What if Nyungwe Forest was Wiped out or Burnt down? What would happen?

If you ask a person about what is happening in the world that is bothering him, he would tell you that the problems he is facing include sickness, hunger, insecurity, death of loved ones, fear of death and so on. I think you too would say so.

What would you say to someone who would just ask you what makes you happy? I guess among answers there would be good health, self-sufficiency in food and drinks and being able to have it whenever you want, safety, longevity for you and your loved ones, having a good family, travel, prosperity, having fun with friends, the development of your country and many more.

If all of this would happen or be true, how would you enjoy it? How happy would you be?

What if what you feared the most would happen, at the same time, and it happens to you and your family, what would it be? That would be the tip of the iceberg of what would happen if there is no forests on earth.

In Rwanda, we do have different forests, among them there is Nyungwe Forest. When someone mentions this forest, most people immediately think of tourism, and I am one of them. On the other hand, there are those who immediately feel the clean air we breathe, the clean water we drink, the years that see rain, the “earth” that is home to animals and so on. I am one of those who feel that too.

Let’s ask ourselves, or let’s think and imagine what would happen if this forest were to disappear, if it was no longer there, what if it would be to be wiped out or burnt down?

Many of us would immediately say: “Well, it’s a forest, what’s so special about it? We would have tremendous trees to make chairs, tables, etc; a huge land to cultivate or to build up infrastructures such as roads, houses, schools, etc.”

If you try to think deeper, you may wonder that the surrounding inhabitants would be living for two years or so without getting enough rain.

We wouldn’t be too far from the truth. But here are some other possibilities:

1. We would lack water

You may live far away from this forest, perhaps in Kigali, and you think that Kigali is too far from Nyungwe, so the side effects of Nyungwe disappearing would not reach you. Well, you would be totally wrong. How often in your home or in your hometown you tend to run out of water? By it just gone missing or by the supply line damaged?

Although it is not yet at a high level of concern, try to remember that in many places there used (or still using) to be no water; for five days, a week, two weeks, a month,… wonder how they lived (are living). Try asking yourself if it happens a lot, what would happen?

Nyungwe Forest conservationists think that almost 70% of the water being used in the whole country comes from this forest. 70% is a very large number but let’s try to simplify it for better understanding. If Rwanda really uses 100% of water, that is, if this forest is removed, 70% of all the country would lack water, which means that 30% would be the only ones that would be able to get it.

That is, out of 100 people, only 30 people would have access to water. Let’s say, if it is “Nyumbakumi” (ten houses) consisting of 10 people in each house, only three houses would have water and the other seven would not. Now look across the country, out of every 10 houses, only three houses would be able to get water, the other seven would not be able to get it, and it would continue for an unknown time.

“So far there is no specific study that shows this figure of 70%, but what is known is that Nyungwe Forest is the source of important rivers in the country such as Mwogo, Mbirurume and Rukarara which also creates Nyabarongo which continues to create Akagera when it meets Akanyaru. In Nyungwe there are other streams that go to the Kivu river which is in the Congo river.” Said Remy Norbert Duhuze, Head of the Water Quantity and Quality Department at the Rwanda Natural Resources Agency (RWB).

Nyungwe is Rwanda’s water reservoir, he said. “Although other parts of the country have rivers that come from it like Mukungwa, Muvumba and others, but we can say that Nyungwe is the water reservoir of Rwanda according to the number and size of the rivers that come from it.”

Remy Norbert continued to explain the importance of the forest, saying that when it rains, the forest catches rainwater and absorbs it (let me say that), and the water seeps into the ground and creates groundwater reserves, which will produce streams and springs. Of course, if there is no forest, we will not see/have water.

This means that if Nyungwe were to be wiped out, all the water we saw above would be lost, or would be very little.

2. Disasters would multiply and the consequences would reach us in abundance

First we remember that the forest slows down the flow of water when it rains, thus reducing erosion.

When there is erosion, the soil is washed away by rainwater, the water we mentioned above gets contaminated, so the cost of treatment increases, and it makes it much more expensive.

This also “Reduces the capacity of the dam to store water, and that water can cause diseases if the soil is contaminated” Remy Norbert continued explaining.

Where the rain has washed away the soil, there would be no crops as the soil that has been washed away is topsoil, where the crops live.

Let’s remember when it rained so much, how in the news it was mentioned that houses were destroyed, people, animals and livestock were washed away by the water, mountains exploded and so on. All this would happen to you/us countless times.

3. There would be climate change

Forests usually play a role in preventing climate change, because they help to filter the harmful gases produced by different things including industry, people and means of transportation (cars, airplanes, motorbikes,…) that are not green transportation, waste in unprotected landfills or dumpsites, and many more.

Forests store bad air or carbon dioxide (CO2), and release fresh air (Oxygen) or O2, which is the air we breathe.

When the forest is wiped out, it is clear that we lose good air maker, and the atmosphere would be full of bad gases that we would be breathing, and then the CO2 that was stored in the forest would be released into the atmosphere which would cause the problems of climate change.

Meteorologists and climate change scientists say that when greenhouse gases cause climate change, it does not reduce the amount of rain that should fall in a year, but it reduces the amount of time that it should fall.

That is, the rain that could fall throughout the year may fall in one month, in two weeks or even in two days. It all depends on the level of air pollution.

Consider the amount of rain that was supposed to fall for a whole year and it fell in just two days. At first we don’t know how to call what would happen, because it would be too much to call it a flood.

Even if it does not happen in two days but in a short period of time, climate change can cause droughts or even floods because it causes more rain to fall in a short period of time.

“We often see both of these in our country where in some areas the rain is decreasing and in others it is falling more in a short period of time, unlike in the past many years” as Remy Norbert continued to inform us, in our interview.

4. Some living things in this forest would die and others would disappear

Nyungwe Forest occupies 1,019 km2 and is a “world” of diverse ecosystems. In addition to the fact that, trees and plants would have been wiped out, the rivers that provided us with water would no longer be available, and there are also animals that we would not see again.

More than 1068 species of plants (Flowering plants) including more than 148 species of orchids, would be missing. More than 322 species of birds that attract many tourists, would be missing too.

In particular, among these 322 species there are more than 30 species of birds that cannot be found anywhere else but in Nyungwe. We would be among other parts of the world that don’t have those species. Which could result in the complete distinction of those species on earth.

We would be missing many other species of animals, like more than 85 species of mammals including more than 13 species of primates, more than 38 species of reptiles and more than 32 species of amphibians.

We can not forget monkeys, swords, ants, cows, turtles, ungulates, deer, old-timers, woodpeckers, wild boar, emperor (Rushokanankomati), wild boar;

Imondo, kingfisher, bird, small hawk/whip, hawk, snake, different species of snakes, different species of birds… you name it; you can see that the list is long and we couldn’t mention them all. All of them would disappear (if the forest burns down) or escape.

5. An unusual famine would occur in Rwanda

Have you ever heard that “once upon a time” there was a famine called Ruzagayura? Well, you would see more. When (if) we wouldn’t have water and wouldn’t know when it will appear; when it would rain only three or two days or two weeks a year and takes away houses, land, animals and things; What would we live on? Where would we farm? What would we eat? Where would we be? Try asking yourself these questions! Not to mention that all those calamities would cost us our lives.

6. Tourists would decrease, the currency would decrease

Nyungwe forest is among the most visited tourism attractions in Rwanda. You may wonder if this is a small thing, but it is not, because the income from tourism is an irreplaceable resource.

“In December 2022 alone, this park was visited by 2,628 tourists, and last year (the whole year) it was visited by 21,564 tourists which increased from 4,810 visitors in 2008.” Said Protais Niyigaba, the Director of the African Park Management of Nyungwe Forest and other forests.

7. We would breathe bad air

It is commonly known that forests, trees, filter the air we breathe.

As we have seen above, when forests are wiped out or burned down, they release carbon dioxide (CO2), which is not good for humans to breathe. This also increases methane gas and other gases that are not good for humans to breathe, as well as for animals.

After all of the above, you might be wondering why would we imagining that Nyungwe would end? A report by the National Agency for Environmental Protection, REMA, and other agencies responsible for environmental protection, conducted in 2019, revealed that in 2006, some of Rwanda’s national parks included Nyungwe, has decreased by at least 65% due to the large number of inhabitants;

Even though at least 80% of the people of Rwanda depend on agriculture and therefore need land for cultivation. This also adds to the population growth which is at a significant level, where in 2008 the population of Rwanda was 9.708 million and in 2018 they had reached 12.63 million.

The recent census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (NIRS) revealed that in the year 2023, there will be more than 13 million Rwandans (13,246,394) where men are 48.5% while women are 51.5%.

“Nyungwe Forest is located in the South of Rwanda and a part of it touches the West of Rwanda. It is surrounded by five districts namely Nyamagabe, Nyaruguru, Nyamasheke, Karongi and Rusizi; in the south it touches Burundi at the Kibira National Park” as Niyigaba Protais told InyaRwanda.

In this story, I may have shown a lot of emotions in showing to the extend the calamities related to what would happen if Nyungwe forest is wiped out or even burned down. Simply, conservation of the species is a battle that we have to fight without emotions. And as a person who visited this forest and was told much about its importance, I learned a lot.

Also remember that the leaders in various sectors in Rwanda often encourage us to plant trees where they often say “when/if you Cut down one tree, Plant two”. This shows how important forests are to human being and to the biodiversity in general. So let’s keep it that way. There are things we are asked to do because they are important to us.

Being told so every day, please let us not devalue it, let us not take it for granted, because if it (the environment) is disturbed, we will also be disturbed. Let’s also fight for awareness of the forests in Rwanda, and the forests in the world to be preserved because the effects be it bad or good, of what happens far away from us also reach us, and what happens in our country also affects those who are far away. This can also take a short or long time to happen, and its effects are long-lasting.