Environmental and socio-economic impact of land use change. Case study of Gishwati forest in Rwanda

2.1. STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION 2.1.1. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Gishwati forest is located in northwestern part of Rwanda. The mean slope gradient of the study area is 35 % at an elevation from 2000m to 3000m above sea level, from longitude 29⁰21^'40^''W to 29⁰28^'50^''E and latitude 1⁰36^'52^''N to 1⁰52^'17^''S (Uwimana, M.F, 2007). It is shared by three districts Rutsiro, Ngororero and Nyabihu.

2.1.2. DESCRIPTION OF BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES

Gishwati is an albertine rift afro montane forest and constituted an important area of biodiversity. It had a population of chimpanzees and golden monkeys as well as blue monkeys. It has also a big number of birds and plants species which are endemic.

2.1.3. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE LOCAL POPULATION

More than 90% of Rwandans live in rural areas and depend highly on agriculture (MacMillan, 2005:12). Certain people practice also livestock. The population on the Congo Nile ridge, at the altitude from 1900 to 2500 m with a rainfall between 1300 and 2000 mm, cultivate essentially sweet potatoes, maize, beans and peas (ONAPO, 1982:178). Munyensanga (2006:19) said that the population around Gishwati was about 360000 inhabitants with a density of 250 to 400 inhabitants by square km. this density which increase progressively push the population to exploit the forest in order to satisfy their basic needs (food, pasture) and searching for money by selling the entire species of trees or by transforming them. The majority of populations live essentially of agriculture.

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2.2. RESEARCH DESIGN

		Literature review
Problem identification
Problem definition		Objectives, research questions and hypotheses

Data collection methods

Secondary data Books, journals, articles, reports, maps and photos	Primary data

Detailed information

Concepts, types, causes and impacts of LU change

observation

Spatial location of the change

Interview and
questionnaire

Local population, districts leaders and forests officers

Conclusion and Recommendation

Figure 2.Flow chart of data collection

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2.3. DATA SOURCES

The research objective cannot be achieved without adequate and needed data. These data will be collected both from secondary and primary sources of data.

2.3.1. SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA

Relevant secondary spatial and attributes data will be collected. Spatial data (shape files) include topographic maps, road networks and aerial photos. Both personal communication and literature review will be applied in data collection.

Literature review will focus on published works such as books, reports, articles, journals, maps, and aerial photographs from both online resources and libraries such as NUR libraries, and from governmental institutions such as REMA, NAFA, and some ministries such as MINAGRI, MINIRENA, etc... In addition to these some information will be delivered from services in charge of statistics of districts.

The maps from CGIS, MINAGRI or NAFA will be analyzed in order to interpret them and discover from them the needed information. The image of Gishwati land cover before 1994 and after will be analyzed in order to detect the changes. This will serve particular to the analysis of the topography and the cover/delimitations of the different types of land areas of Gishwati forest.