Government officials Wednesday disclosed the possibility of relocating people settled within an area set aside for a woodland corridor to link Gishwati and Nyungwe forests. Frank Rutabingwa, the head of national forestry project (PAFOR), said the plan on how the exercise will be carried out ready. He said that the Great Ape Trust/Earthpark a US-based organisation has already declared its intention to develop such a forest corridor in that area under the help of government. What I know, the corridor will cover a small elongated piece of land in would-be designed areas for that said Rutabingwa. The plan to have such acorridor was announced last week by Great Ape Trust which intends to develop Gishwati Forest Reserve into a national conservation park. The body said that it considers creating a 30-mile (50km) tree corridor to connect the 15 Gishwati chimpanzees to Nyungwe National Park, home to different primate species. The aim is to help them make contact with those in Nyungwe in order for them to enjoy a wider pool of prospective mates, and thus avoid inbreeding. Creation of woodland corridor is perceived by Rutabingwa as apart of appropriate ways to come to the rescue of species threatened by human activities in the area. He said that PAFOR has already embarked on restoration of the area’s ecosystem in the form of improved water quality, reduced soil erosion, flooding and fewer landslides. Adding that the reforestation for lost plants and devising how people should use them effectively means that ecosystem restoration can truly be sustainable. Rutabingwa said that their efforts also aim at creation of protected forest tracts, which will help local people to start-up low-income activities like nature based tourism practices. Generating income through ecotourism, investment opportunity and local employment is anticipated to change people’s livelihood while backing lives of wildlife in the area. While Gishwati Conservation Park intended developers believe that protected natural habitats will do more to save Rwanda’s wildlife. Once the second-largest indigenous forest in Rwanda, Gishwati covered 8,800 hectares in the early 1900s, but resettlement of people after the 1994 genocide reduced it to about 1,000 hectares. According to reports from Ministry of Natural Resources, reforestation efforts during the past several years have increased Gishwati’s forest with an additional 4,000 hectares.Ends
