Striving for restoration of wetland functions and values in the City of Kigali
Abstract
This work aimed to present the commitment of the Government of Rwanda of relocating all illegal activities from wetlands in the framework of environmental protection; to highlights human activities established into wetlands of Kigali City and their categories; and to mention some initiatives of restoration. Its scope is limited to governmental policies presentation and analysis, to the presentation of different activities that degrade wetlands in the City of Kigali and to highlight some initiatives for restoration.
Documentation, camera and field survey were used in data collection and ArcGIS 10.2 was used as software for spatial analysis and presentation and the survey covered all districts of the City of Kigali. Activities that harm wetlands include: residential home, commercial activities, industrial activities, parking, garages, ware houses, carpentry and welding workshops, dumping sites, bricks burning, petrol stations, carwash, schools, health centers, worship houses, domestic animal growing and play grounds.
Relocation of these activities is the enforcement of the environmental law and the government commitment to environment management. Some of these activities were legally established and their relocation has to be compensated and those illegally established will not be compensated. Many of these wetlands will be left into conservation in order to recover their functions of storing and releasing water and buffering the impacts of floods; providing habitat for plants and animals; providing water storage, improve water quality and reduce pollution, etc. Some few other will be made up into recreational areas like Nyandungu Recreational Park, Kimicanga Entertainment Center and Gikondo wetland parks.
Keywords
Download Options
Introduction
Wetlands are aquatic ecosystems with plants, animals and soils that are adapted to wet conditions which often require and can survive permanent or periodic inundation. Water in wetlands can be still or flowing; it can be fresh, salty or brackish. Wetlands do not have to be continuously wet; some wetlands can remain dry for years at a time [1].
Wetland functions and values are the roles that a wetland performs resulting from specific characteristics of the wetland and the wetland’swatershed. Functions are self-sustaining properties of a wetland ecosystem that exist in the absence of society without regard to subjective human values. Values are the worth, merit, quality, or importance of a wetland to society based on either one or more functions and physical characteristics associated with the wetland [2].
Wetland ecosystems represent 4% of Earth’ssurface, yet comprise approximately 45% of the realized value of natural ecosystems. Wetlands provide important functions such as filtering contaminants, removing nutrients and sediment from runoff, contributing to groundwater recharge, storing floodwater, stabilizing shorelines, and providing habitat for numerous fish and wildlife species [3].
In particular, urban wetlands provide a variety of benefits and services to the community. In addition to providing habitat for plants and animals, wetlands provide water storage, improve water quality and reduce pollution. Wetlands also protect against natural hazards, slowing floodwaters, reducing the risk of fire and protecting against erosion of riverbanks and coastlines. Wetlands and associated vegetation can provide a cooling effect to surrounding areas in summer and also moderate strong winds. Wetlands also contribute to the well-being of the community by acting as urban green spaces which provide aesthetic appeal, landscape diversity and recreational opportunities. They also contribute to cultural heritage, spiritual values and they provide easily accessible educational opportunities to learn about the environment [4].
As a beautiful place to live and work in, over 13% (8,740ha) of the City of Kigali is covered by wetlands [5]. Kigali has contributes unique attractiveness of landscapes. The City of Kigali; the Capital of Rwanda is built on hilly area, sprawling across about four ridges and the valleys in between. These Wetlands are Kigali’skey hydrological features. These wetlands have important environmental functions, such as storing and releasing water and buffering the impacts of floods. They have been threatened by human activities including the conversion to agriculture, human settlements and industrial uses, and when used for livestock activities and sand quarries. As a result of such impacts, by 2006, only 24 percent of Kigali’soriginal wetland areas remained [5].
For instance, the urbanized sections of the River Nyabugogo system have been found to be high in heavy metals, such as lead and chromium, and nutrients from organic material and soil runoff [6]. Polluted water exposes households to the risk of contracting diarrheal and other water-borne diseases, especially since 30.2 percent drink this water without any prior treatment (NISR, 2012a). The prevalence of diarrheal disease in children in urban areas is 9.8 percent [7]. This work aims to present the will and commitment of the government of Rwanda for relocating all unnecessary activities from wetlands across the country and in Kigali particularly in the framework of environmental protection especially for conservation of the existing swamps; to highlights different human activities established into wetlands of Kigali City and their categories; and to mention some initiatives of restoration that have started.
The scope of this work is limited to governmental policies presentation and analysis, to the presentation of different activities that pollute or destroy wetlands in the City of Kigali and their categories and to highlight some initiatives for restoration. The analysis will be based on the survey outcomes; the mentioned survey has been conducted in July – August
Conclusion
The aim of this work was to present the will and commitment of the government of Rwanda for relocating all unnecessary activities from wetlands across the country and in Kigali particularly in the framework of environmental protection especially for conservation of the existing swamps; to highlights different human activities established into wetlands of Kigali City and their categories; and to mention some initiatives of restoration that have started.
From our findings laws and regulations have been in place and this important as the government will. I addition, the action of identification of all activities into wetlands of the City of Kigali shows the high commitment in laws enforcement by the government. The potential polluters of wetlands have been identified and their implications in wetlands degradation. All these activities will be relocated for the purpose of environmental protection in general, especially for conservation of the existing wetlands and protecting lives and businesses affected by the negative impact of their degradation. In this framework, people who have activities which were set up in an illegal way should relocate them to the suitable locations without compensation but those whose activities were set up in a legal way will be compensated for their relocation.
