Data from the Rwanda Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (2018) shows that in the Northern Province, Gicumbi District ranks the highest in exposure to climate hazards, and second-highest in sensitivity to climate-related impact.

However, Rwanda has set ambitious goals that aim at strengthening the resilience of the communities to cope with the effects of climate change. In this regard, a $32 million project, one of the biggest projects funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in Rwanda, is being implemented to strengthen the climate resilience of vulnerable communities in Gicumbi District as the pilot Project to be scaled up across the country.

Jean Marie Vianney Kagenza, Team Leader of the aforementioned project, in an exclusive interview with The New Times’ Michel Nkurunziza, explains the project interventions and how the scheme is supporting Gicumbi District to strengthen its resilience to climate shocks, and why innovative and impactful interventions should be replicated in other districts facing the same shocks.

Excerpts:

One of the key goals of ‘Green Gicumbi’ is to strengthen community resilience of rural communities, a mandate that is timely given the situation where climate change remains one of the biggest challenges facing the world, including Rwanda. Can you tell us briefly about this project, and why Gicumbi District has its coverage?

As mentioned earlier, in 2019, the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Environment secured $32 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to implement the project entitled "Strengthening Climate Resilience of Rural Communities in Northern Rwanda’’.

The project is locally known as the ‘Green Gicumbi Project’ as its nickname and it is implemented by the Rwanda Green Fund-FONERWA in collaboration with Gicumbi District and other stakeholders.

This is a six-year adaptation project that mainly focuses on reducing vulnerability to climate change by enhancing the adaptive capacity of the vulnerable communities in the project intervention area, as well as reducing their exposure to climate risks.

‘Green Gicumbi’ comprises four key components; watershed protection and climate resilient agriculture; sustainable forest management and sustainable energy; climate resilient settlements as well as knowledge transfer and mainstreaming.

The project covers nine sectors, namely; Manyagiro, Cyumba, Rubaya, Kaniga, Rushaki, Mukarange, Bwisige, Byumba, and will reach 150,000 and 380,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries, respectively.

Rwanda is facing the effects of climate change such as the recent flooding and landslides that hit different parts of the country. What is ‘Green Gicumbi’ doing to build community resilience to such climate effects?

It is true that our country is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and the recent cases are a true example of that vulnerability.

As the Green Gicumbi Project, we are also concerned to support our beneficiaries to adapt to those climate shocks by strengthening their adaptive capacities through a range of adaptation initiatives.

This is mainly done through the implementation of different erosion control practices on high slopes, including the establishment of terraces both radical and progressive, plantation of agroforestry, construction of water ponds, check dams, infiltration ditches, and rehabilitation of gullies, to name but a few.

Take one example of Mulindi Marshland, an area that used to be hit by flooding, especially during the rainy season.

‘Green Gicumbi’ has improved drainage systems in this marshland by establishing the intake and building peripheral canals that appropriately channel water.

The project also constructed two bridges on the way to Mulindi w’Intwari, thus easing the local transport and movement of the community. In addition to this, the project also established protective trenches in the surrounding hilly sides of the watershed.

This has tremendously contributed to controlling floods that used to cause heavy losses to smallholder farmers, including tea farmers whereby, for instance, more than 250 hectares of tea plantations disappeared due to flooding. You can imagine the impact this created on individual farmers whose lives depend on tea and the country in general.

One of the project’s key components is watershed protection and climate-resilient agriculture. Give us a picture of interventions being implemented under the project and how they are contributing to building the resilience of the communities in Gicumbi District.

Watershed protection and climate-resilient agriculture is the biggest component of the project in terms of budget allocation.

This component focuses on the reduction of soil erosion and land degradation in cultivated areas, including tea and coffee plantations, as well as buffer areas around the catchment and other public areas such as rivers and roadsides.

By doing this, we aim to promote climate-resilient agricultural practices along the value chain to foster transformation through climate-resilient innovative approaches to address poverty and support economic growth, and build the adaptive capacity of poor households from future climate risks and impacts.

To date, a number of milestones have been achieved in this component. This includes 600 ha of radical terraces established, 850 ha of progressive terraces established, 50 ha planted tea plantations, 40 ha planted climate-resilient coffee as well as 6,979 ha planted with agroforestry.

All these interventions have not only contributed to addressing issues of soil erosion, but also contributed to increased agricultural productivity and food security in the community compared to the situation before the project.

On the terraces, farmers grow climate-resilient seeds including food crops such as maize, beans, wheat, and Irish potatoes. The farmers can plant seeds that resist heavy rain, drought, and so on. There is a variety of climbing beans rich in iron that are adapted to the weather conditions of Gicumbi district.

We are promoting highland maize seed that has resistance to diseases in Northern Province. We are also promoting integrated pest management to minimise the use of agrochemicals in fighting against pests and diseases and crop rotation.

Forests play a critical role in both climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, deforestation and forest degradation remain the two challenges facing sustainable forest management. How is ‘Green Gicumbi’ contributing to addressing these issues? What have you achieved so far?

It is factual that deforestation and forest degradation are still prevailing across the country due to over-dependence on wood biomass for cooking energy, as well as poor forest management practices which lead also to poor productivity.

To address this challenge, the Green Gicumbi project is assisting woodlot owners to rehabilitate degraded forests with adapted tree species.

Communities are fully engaged through mobilisation and awareness campaigns to ensure they are also involved throughout the value chain including seedling production, site preparation, tree planting, and management. In addition, through training, communities are now aware of appropriate forest management practices such as establishing water retention ditches, whole digging with appropriate sizes, and spacing between trees among others.

Furthermore, woodlot owners are grouped into cooperatives under the Private Forest Management units (PFMUs) and given the simplified forest management plan which prescribes all the management practices to be carried out as well as the harvesting procedures.

Before the project, one hectare of forests could provide only 30 cubic metres. Today, thanks to forest restoration, a farmer is likely to harvest over 200 cubic metres per hectare.

So far 1,107 hectares of forests have been rehabilitated with more than three million seedlings of different varieties planted.

Climate-resilient settlements are one of the critical activities of the ‘Green Gicumbi’ Project. Tell us more about the two climate-resilient settlements you have constructed and highlight their particularities in terms of climate change aspects.

The constructed climate-resilient settlements are Kabeza in Rubaya sector where 40 units are already occupied by beneficiaries and Kaniga in Kaniga sector where 60 units are at the completion stage.

The particularities of these green settlements lie in the consideration of the green aspects such as the selection of sites, construction of materials, as well as water and waste management, to name but a few.

The selected sites are located in safe zones while the houses are designed in a way that minimises the use of energy and increases indoor air quality.

For the construction materials, we ensured that they are low-carbon construction materials, and the manufacturing process should be climate resilient.

That is why we opted to use modern bricks, simply because the factory uses bio-waste while burning bricks, and the gases and ashes that may pollute the air are captured within the kiln.

For the construction of the settlement, we use bricks that are burnt with bio-waste instead of wood to avoid deforestation.

Rainwater harvesting is also something that we considered while constructing to avoid causing erosion to the neighbouring area.

To respond to this, underground rainwater harvesting tanks were constructed to harvest all water from roofs, thus reducing runoff and increasing the water resources in the settlement.

Harvested rainwater is used for domestic use and small-scale irrigation while at the same time minimising soil erosion caused by runoff water.

In regard to waste management, the waterless composting toilets were also constructed to help turn waste into manure and at the same time avoid soil and water contamination.

To date, the Green Gicumbi project is at its midterm stage. What do you think has worked well so far and what are the lessons learned?

We are in the fourth year of the project implementation. As for the project, we are proud that our interventions are not only contributing to environmental protection and climate change aspects but are also contributing to the improvement of livelihoods of vulnerable communities through job creation where, for instance, more than 23,000 green jobs of which 52 per cent are for women have been created thanks to our various interventions.

This is a good indication that investing in the climate resilience of the communities is the best choice to ensure sustainable and inclusive development.

In the last four years, as the project, we have seen that it is critical to involve the communities and beneficiaries, as well as different key concerned partners right from the project initiation to the implementation stage.

This has to go hand-in-hand with strategic community engagement initiatives and consistent capacity-building of beneficiaries and knowledge transfer to ensure the sustainability of project achievements, as well as a mindset change which in turn helps in the scalability and replication of good practices.

Where do you see Gicumbi District after the end of the project, and how do you work with your partners to ensure the sustainability of your achievements?

At the end of the project, I see Gicumbi District on a good track in terms of becoming resilient to climate shocks, as well as mainstreaming climate change aspects into district plans and actions.

This will be a good opportunity to sustain what will thus have been done in the six years. Based on strong commitment and existing good collaboration between the project and the district, I am confident that our interventions will be a game-changer not only at the district level but also at the community mindset change level, and this will create a sustainable great future across different aspects of communities’ livelihoods.