Protected areas in Rwanda have always faced pressure on their peripheries due to the expansion of agricultural land. Now, local community members can be granted licenses to manage a nature reserve. Committees established and composed of local residents living around these protected areas act as a bridge between park authorities and other community members.
A new community-based approach in Rwanda now grants individuals from local populations the right to manage national parks and other protected areas, without relying on official government structures.
Rwanda has four national parks: Akagera National Park in the East, Nyungwe National Park in the Southwest, Gishwati-Mukura National Park in the Northwest, and Volcanoes National Park in the North, along with several nature reserves, according to estimates from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
Under the law that came into effect in October 2024, local community members can be granted licenses to manage a nature reserve, with authorization to modify its boundaries.
As part of this new measure, committees made up of local residents living near protected areas act as liaisons between park authorities and other community members, helping to resolve disputes and carry out awareness campaigns for environmental conservation.
“These committees were created to promote the involvement of local communities in the sustainable management of natural resources,” said Jean Luc Rukwaya, a conservation specialist at the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).
The committees made up of local community members living around national parks and other protected areas serve as a link between park authorities and other community members in resolving disputes.
Although the committees are new, Rukwaya notes that the parks already had some collaborative frameworks with local communities for conservation initiatives. However, these collaborations were informal, and the roles and responsibilities of the communities were not clearly defined. “This new community structure strengthens community conservation networks,” he said.
Skills in nature conservation
Before the new law establishing community park management committees was enacted, the upkeep of the national park system and tourist infrastructure was handled by the Rwanda Development Board, with help from ministries responsible for conservation and their partners.
The goal of this reform is to expand the size of protected areas in Rwanda to preserve biodiversity and improve the living conditions of local populations by creating community-based jobs in nature reserve management.
“This is a localized initiative that aims to put local communities at the forefront of development projects to protect nature,” said Télesphore Ngoga, a conservation analyst at the Rwanda Development Board.
To own a private nature reserve, the owner must have land title deeds and enough capital to manage the proposed reserve for at least five years, according to the new law.
Under the new guidelines, managing a protected area requires demonstrating knowledge and the necessary skills to conserve the nature reserve.
Ngoga said that many reforms have been undertaken to strengthen the governance of protected areas. This new community-based approach offers, for the first time, sustainable solutions to better integrate local populations.
Preventing open conflicts with local populations
According to official data, since the creation of the country’s first national park—Volcanoes National Park in 1925—the governance of protected areas in Rwanda has been characterized by policing and centralized conservation practices inherited from colonial rule, followed by conservation policies dominated by global interests.
Indeed, with the creation of Volcanoes National Park in 1925, protected area governance in Rwanda was marked by authoritarian control by the central government, which did not necessarily involve local communities in management initiatives.
“This governance system excluded local populations,” said Dr. Jean Damascène Gashumba, environmental activist and Executive Director of the Rural Environment and Development Organization (REDO), one of Rwanda’s main environmental NGOs.
Some conservation researchers argue that transforming forest areas into national parks since then amounted to the confiscation of local resources. Many people had lived in these areas or carried out activities such as forest grazing, artisanal wood processing, honey harvesting, and collecting medicinal plants.
Construction of a stone wall separating volcanoes National Park and the population of Kinigi
In 2009, Rwandan researcher Gaspard Rwanyirizi already noted that protected areas in Rwanda have always faced pressure at their edges due to the expansion of farmland or open conflicts with local communities living within or near them.
In his Ph.D. thesis, Rwanyirizi stated that these conflicts have become frequent, as farmers try to extract some resources (land, wood, wild meat) from these areas to meet their families’ needs, while the government does everything it can to protect them due to tourism revenue.
Protecting endangered species
Rwanyirizi noted that this situation persisted until 2002, when Rwandan authorities decided to shift toward greater local integration.
Thanks to its mountain gorillas, for example, Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda has become not only the country’s most attractive park for tourism but also the largest earner of foreign currency.
As a result, the surrounding communities are more aware of the park’s tourism value than others and benefit significantly from the socio-economic advantages of the growing tourism industry in the region.
Recent estimates from the Rwanda Development Board show that the increase in visits to national parks has significantly contributed to the growth of Rwanda’s tourism revenue.
Visits to national parks rose by 47.7%, from 445 million USD in 2022 to 620 million USD in 2023.
According to official estimates, this growth has also benefited the communities surrounding national parks. The revenue-sharing program with communities disbursed 2 billion Rwandan francs (about 1.4 million USD) for various projects.
These included 54 agricultural projects, 43 infrastructure projects, as well as 8 projects aimed at providing equipment for rural stores, housing, and artisans, and 6 projects for community enterprises.
However, some researchers and activists argue that despite efforts to fairly distribute tourism revenue, local communities taking ownership of park management remains essential for effective and sustainable conservation.
“Initiatives such as creating protected areas under private management are essential to expand these areas and ensure the protection of endangered species,” said Dr. Gashumba, an environmental activist based in Kigali.
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