World Vision commits to plant over 7 million trees through land restoration projects

Nyagatare, 13th November 2020. World Vision Rwanda, through its partnership with the Regreening Africa and Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) projects, has committed to plant a total of 7,695,300 trees throughout the 2020/21 tree-planting season to address climate change and improve livelihoods.

In line with the national theme for the tree-planting season, ‘Forests for Community Livelihood and Sustainable Development’, and in an effort to contribute towards the Government’s target of planting 25 million trees this tree-planting season, World Vision organised a tree-planting event in Nyagatare District to create awareness on the challenges of land degradation and the need for land restoration initiatives.

The Regreening Africa Project (funded by the European Union – EU), and the FLR project (funded by the Australian Government through its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – DFAT) and World Vision with technical support from World Agroforestry (ICRAF), together support farmers to improve their livelihoods by providing improved food and nutritional security, climate resilience for smallholder farmers and restored ecosystem services through evergreen agriculture - a form of agroforestry where trees are incorporated onto crop and pasture lands.

Delegates from the Rwanda Forestry Authority, Nyagatare District, representatives from World Vision, ICRAF, the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) and other implementing partners joined residents and farmers in Nyagatare District to plant several types of trees and other multipurpose agroforestry trees in Gishuro IDP Model Village, Gishuro Cell, Tabagwe Sector. Present at the event was also Pascal Zahonero, an EU delegate.

Last year, the Christian humanitarian organisation through the two projects planted more than six million tree seedlings whilst facilitating local community participatory approaches in tree seedlings production, and providing capacity-building in various agroforestry and land restoration practices to enhance agricultural productivity.

The trees will be planted in the districts of Gatsibo, Nyagatare, Kayonza and Bugesera in the eastern province. The trees will include different species to address various household needs; including fruits, fodder, soil fertility, firewood, erosion control and many others.