About 800 hectares of land covered by invasive alien plants in Gishwati-Mukura National Park are being restored to their native landscape.
The landscape of the Gishwati-Mukura Biosphere Reserve used to experience floods and erosion before it was designated as a protected area. During that time, the government planted a variety of trees as one of the measures to address these environmental challenges.
Park management has now launched an ongoing restoration programme that aims at removing such alien plants in the park.
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According to Gishwati-Mukura Chief Park Warden, Anaclet Budahera, tea, avocado, eucalyptus (a type of tree known for its fast growth and commonly used for its medicinal properties, as well as for its wood and oil), and acacia melanoxylon (also known as blackwood, a fast-growing tree that can reach heights of 30 metres and is known for its high-quality timber, which is used in furniture making and construction) are among the alien plants being removed from the Biosphere Reserve.
He said the invasive species have been eradicated from 15 hectares, which have also been revitalised by planting new native plants.
"The restoration process is carried out systematically; you cannot remove all the invasive plants within one year because the park might face erosion or the landscape will become deforested. We uproot, where possible, cut and skin trees. When they dry off, other natural vegetation starts growing, we follow scientific manners," he disclosed.
Once the alien plants are not removed significantly, they cause food scarcity for wildlife animals, and are likely to scale up human-wildlife conflict in case wild animals come out of their natural habitats. Present reports also reveal, some of the species likely do not allow native plants to grow vigorously.
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Speaking to The New Times, Conservation Analyst at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Télesphore Ngoga, agreed that restoration works are gradually carried out as part of conservation of the landscape whose "overall restoration reaches 80 - 90 per cent."
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Gishwati-Mukura is Rwanda's fourth national park, approved in 2016, and the second named as a World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on October 28, 2020, following the approval of Volcanoes Biosphere Reserve in 1983.
