LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

06 February 1978

19 July 1986

21 February 2005

20 August 2015

Gishwati Forest Once an intact forest extending for 70,000 ha in the 1930s, the Gishwati Forest in Rwanda was reduced to 28,000 ha during the 1970s due to clearance of the forest for large- scale cattle ranching, crop cultivation and settlement (Gatera 2001; Plumptre et al. 2001). Amajor pine plantation was created in the forest in 1986 and a further 3,000 ha

converted into amilitary zone. By 1995, more natural forest had been converted for agriculture following the demand for land for returning refugees and internally displaced persons at the end of the war (Kanyamibwa 1998). By the 1990s, only 8,800 ha of forest remained; this further declined to 600 ha in 2005. Since 2005, forest restoration work has been ongoing (Nyandwi and Mukashema 2011).

41