The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting took place in Kigali, Rwanda, from June 20th to June 22nd, 2022. As part of the meeting, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales visited a landscape collaborative restoration site in Kigali overseen by the Abertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS) – a new associate member of FEE.
The site in Kigali has done a lot to restore degraded wetlands into healthy ecosystems. This progress would not have happened without the work of local communities. The tree nursery that His Royal Highness and ARCOS visited is managed by a local community cooperative. They are growing an impressive diversity of trees and indigenous species playing an important role in landscape restoration. ARCOS is working with a total of 730 communities to restore their region's landscapes. Their actions include shifting to organic fertiliser for the soil's health, planting native species to increase biodiversity, and raising awareness in communities for nature restoration.
"For over 20 years, the district of Bugesera experienced deforestation, severe drought and other climate change effects that led to extreme food shortage, loss of biodiversity and water resources across many freshwater ecosystems, including Lake Cyohoha North. The remarkable results we see on this site need to be replicated."
- Hon Minister of Environment, Dr Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya.
