ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF POPULATION GROWTH ON FOREST DEGRADATION IN RWANDA CASE STUDY GISHWATI FOREST (1990-2020)

Abstract

Globally, human activities incurred from population growth have had great impacts on environment especially forest cover where deforestation have been so prevalent over last many years. This study aimed at analyzing the effects of population growth on the Gishwati forest degradation. The latter has been achieved by examining the trend in population growth and by integrating Remote sensing techniques and geo-information system platform to classify the land use land cover (1990-2020) through acquired satellite imageries. The findings revealed an increase in population growth where from 1990 to 2020, the population increased from 734654 people to 1381730 and the population density from 295.5 to 483.1 people per km2. The above were in parallel with a decrease in forest cover (1990-2000) where forests have decreased (558.5 ha) at the expense of cropland expansion (496.5 ha). Moreover, the study has shown the success of restoration projects conducted in Rwanda, where from 2000-2020, the forests and grasslands trend have shown to increase with a decrease of cropland. Thus, the Rwandan government should be congratulated following its invested efforts put in Gishwati for its restoration and conservation leading to its nomination as a national park. Finally, the study suggests the creation of alternative way of generating income for people surrounding Gishwati forest, and design buffer zone to separate anthropogenic activities from the forest.