Musanze - Residents of Nyabihu District have been called upon to save Lake Karago which is on verge of extinction, by embarking on environmental protection programmes such as reforestation and terracing.The call was made by the Minister of Natural Resources Stanislas Kamanzi.The Minister said that uncontrolled human activities around the natural forest of Gishwati, especially over-cultivation, cutting down of trees, and human settlement in the shadows of water channels pose an environmental crisis. “This exercise (tree planting), should be considered as a new era of restoring the degraded environment. It will help restore fertility of your land and check water erosion along the hills,” Kamanzi said, after a joint community exercise to plant trees along Lake Karago.He also said, “More human illegal activities should stop and instead dress up our the bare hills.” Trees will be planted on over 55 hectares along the water tributaries of Nyamukongoro leading into Lake Karago, and along the hills adjacent to the lake, as part of efforts to restore water resources.“Environmental protection will benefit you first before the world gains, you should own these activities,” Kamanzi stated.Human activities including, cutting down trees, settlement and infrastructural development around Lake Karago, including the construction of a military camp in Mukamira in the 1980s, are some of the factors that led to the deterioration of the water body. “This lake formed naturally in 1900s. It was a major source of fish and a clean water reservoir. But human activities led to direct erosion and drained it up,” lamented Pierre Claver Ruhanika, a Karago Sector resident, who witnessed the lake’s water levels drop over the years. The provincial governor, Celestin Kabahizi, urged the residents to respect the legal framework regarding protection of natural areas and distance of cultivation along waterways.‘’We need to take action. We need to put efforts together and restore these wasted resources because there is a strong link between poverty and misuse of resources,” Kabahizi insisted.“We can’t make two steps and one backward. Environmental issues require community involvement.”
