Rwanda’s Cabinet Resolution Spurs Major Forest and Land Restoration Efforts to Achieve Climate Goals and Biodiversity Conservation

By Ange de la Victoire DUSABEMUNGU

Kigali, Rwanda — On Monday, 15 September 2025, Rwanda’s Cabinet announced a bold push to transform the country’s landscape and reinforce its climate resilience through an array of large-scale forest and land restoration projects.

These initiatives align with Rwanda’s commitment to sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation, which are vital to securing the country’s ecological and economic future.

As of mid-2024, Rwanda’s forest cover stands at approximately 724,695 hectares, or 30.4% of the nation’s total land area, according to the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA). The country’s forests comprise a diverse mix, including plantations (53.5%), natural mountain rainforests (18.1%), wooded savannas (22.3%), and other ecosystems. These ecosystems are essential for maintaining biodiversity, regulating climate, and supporting local livelihoods.

Recognizing the need to restore degraded lands, Rwanda has embarked on several ambitious projects. One major initiative led by the Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA), supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), aims to rehabilitate 60,000 hectares of degraded landscapes in the Eastern Province, covering districts such as Kirehe, Ngoma, Bugesera, Rwamagana, Kayonza, Gatsibo, and Nyagatare. This effort involves community-based programs of agroforestry, afforestation, reforestation, and planting along rivers and highways, along with promoting clean cooking technologies for 100,000 households. The goal is to enhance local livelihoods, food, and water security while increasing forest cover.

In addition, the Congo Nile Divide (CND) project, with funding from the Green Climate Fund, seeks to restore 5,000 hectares of forests within Nyungwe and Gishwati-Mukura National Parks in the same districts. This project emphasizes ecological restoration through agroforestry, silvopastoral systems, and riverbank rehabilitation, bolstering biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience for vulnerable rural communities. Support for climate-smart farming and value chains — including honey, avocados, and horticulture — are also central to this initiative, further encouraging sustainable economic development.

Several other key efforts complement these projects. The COMBIO initiative focuses on protecting biodiversity and reducing vulnerability to climate change through community-led conservation in Kirehe and Nyagatare districts, supported by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority. Meanwhile, TREPA is working toward restoring 60,000 hectares of croplands, silvo-pastoral lands, and private woodlots, emphasizing community participation and land management best practices.

Since 2011, Rwanda committed to bringing under restoration two million hectares of land by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge. With these current projects, the country is making substantial progress in its quest to restore one-third of its land to sustainable, productive ecosystems. The initiatives directly support Rwanda’s broader goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve biodiversity, and improve the resilience of its most vulnerable populations—including subsistence farmers, women, and pastoralists—to climate impacts.