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Pitch

Planting 144+1 million Trees and promote a culture of growing trees. This aims to tackle the deforestation issue in Rwanda


Description

Summary

With 11.8 million people,Rwanda is the most densely populated country in sub-saharan Africa averaging 416 people per square kilometer. The population of Rwanda is growing at a pace of approximately 2.6% according to the Rwanda institute of statistics. More than 90% of the population live on subsistence farming meaning they grow just enough to feed their families. With less income to afford the use of charcoal and gas, wood is the most important source of fuel. Trees are most exploited and they serve as a basic need across the country. since they are the main source of energy for cooking.

Farm plots across the country have an average size of 0.6 hectares and tend to be fragmented over several locations. As a result, many households actually farm as little as 0.4 hectares. Farmers use the flat land to grow crops to sell at local markets, and the steeper, more difficult to farm slopes for growing food for household consumption. An increasing population density is putting additional pressure on the scarce land, encouraging people to move on to ever steeper slopes. The mountainous landscape presents significant challenges to farmers. Farming is not only physically more demanding and tiring but the shallow soils found on steep slopes are also prone to erosion and landslidesMy proposal aims to refill the exploited areas in Rwanda with trees and make Rwanda greener that it is so far.  

My solution aims to plant trees on Rwandan terraces, alongside roads and vacant areas in order to tackle the issue of deforestation across the country.


Is this proposal for a practice or a project?

Practice


What actions do you propose?

We as a green team will reach out to the government officials on the sector level for approval. then we shall rent suitable land to make nursery beds for different types of trees. When the trees are ready, we shall propose distribution of these trees in activities like umuganda. Umuganda is a mandatory monthly community work that is done across the country, All Rwandan gather to work in their neighborhoods with activities like, cleaning the roads, planting trees, mending and repairing roads and sometimes helping the poor. We want to use that opportunity to sensitize the culture of growing trees on a monthly basis by providing trees free of charge. During these meetings we will do workshops about the benefits of planting trees and why now is the time to begin. 

 


Who will take these actions?

Sector agronomists: On the sector level, agronomists will be consulted in order to know what kind of trees are to be planted in specific areas, those that won't affect the farming land if planted on terraces and others necessary in areas where they can prevent erosion. 

Green team: We will be supervising the the implementation of the project, preparing nursery beds and working with local farmers to plant the trees. 


Where will these actions be taken?

Nursery beds for trees will be put in all sectors of the country to make sure that all the populations gets access to them. 


In addition, specify the country or countries where these actions will be taken.

Rwanda


Country 2

No country selected


Country 3

No country selected


Country 4

No country selected


Country 5

No country selected


Impact/Benefits


What impact will these actions have on greenhouse gas emissions and/or adapting to climate change?

According to the Rwanda institute of statistics Rwanda has 11,809,295 people. In our project we estimated 12 million people because there are foreigners living in the country. Assuming that each month a tree is cutdown to provide basic needs for 1 person, either for firewood, furniture or paper, that means that Rwanda needs 144 million trees per year. Our solution aims to plant the same amount of trees plus extra to facilitate the increase of forests and trees in Rwanda. No only will this supply enough trees to sustain the Rwandan population, it will bring balance to the climate in the country, reduce the amount of land slide and soil erosion, keep us cool, and clean up our air. 

It is in that way that we will also be contributing to tackling global warming.


What are other key benefits?

We are a team of 3 people and there is 416 sectors in Rwanda, our solution will also bring although not entirely permanent but employment to Rwandan local farmers to work with us preparing the nursery beds for trees and planting. 


Costs/Challenges


What are the proposal’s projected costs?

In order to make nursery beds all across the country we will need to rent land in 300 sectors across the country, employ 300 local farmers for 3 months to prepare nursery beds and transportation for the team to distribute the trees and to supervise the activities.

This will all cost approximately 60,000$ to begin with.  


Timeline

The proposal's impact will begin to have an impact in 3 years and we have a goal to increase the number of trees by 5% each year. In 3 years Rwanda will be the most eco friendly country in sub-saharan Africa.


About the author(s)

Simon Niwemugizi: Rwandan, 26 years of age. Simon enjoys nature and is always trying to make an impact give back to the environment he lives in and owes good health. Studied computer science and has been working in the field for 6 years. Simon lives in Kigali Rwanda. 

Egide Ntakirutimana: Egide is a graduate in the National university of Rwanda in Ecology. That pretty much sums up his desire to making sure that Rwanda is very eco friendly and set an example to others. Egide enjoys nature and as an ecologist, he is always trying to make sure that the environment he lives in is taken care of. 


Related Proposals


References

“Figure.” Size of the resident population | National Institute of Statistics Rwanda,www.statistics.gov.rw/publication/size-resident-population 

Farming in a tough environment: A visit to Rwanda. Edited by Gordon Cornway, 25 May 2016, canwefeedtheworld.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/farming-in-a-tough-environment-a-visit-to-rwanda/. 

Ministry of Agriculture and animal resources 

Ruxin, Josh. “Growing Rwanda Out of Poverty.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 July 2012,www.forbes.com/sites/joshuaruxin/2012/07/25/growing-rwanda-out-of-poverty/#60abca19521b