According to the reports coming in from the Rwanda Development Board Tourism and Conservation, indicate that they have finally begun working on the process of refunding lost property, all the damages caused and injuries that the people who are staying in communities close to the national parks suffered some time back when they were attacked by the wildlife. Last week the Rwandan government set up a particular trust fund that the RDB will be using while working on these people but one must have genuine and confirmed claims to get the fund set aside for compensation and currently there are more than hundred people pending and are waiting for approval to decide on the amount of compensation.
17 of the victims come from the Parc de Volcanoes which is now having part of secured by a perimeter wall that is meter high to separate it from the people and farms near it, 34 victims are from the Nyungwe Forest National Park while, 306 are from Akagera National Park. This problem will be solved when the electric fence is completed. Rica Rwigamba who is the Head of the Tourism and Conservation Department at RDB said that the problem is really a big one which needs s to be addressed as soon as possible more so because Rwanda sees conservation in a holistic approach therefore communities and wildlife have got to live harmoniously alongside each other. Hopefully this idea of creating the fund will lead to a profitable cooperation that RDB has been struggling to establish for a number of years now with communities close to the protected areas.
Existing laws and regulations also require that 5 percent of the gate revenues be given back to the communities every year, meanwhile the gorillas naming ceremony for this year will take and also Kwita Izina celebrations will be held on the 16th of June and are recent projects initiated by the RDB Tourism and Conservation intended to help be able to supply water to communities and sustain health, education as well as community centers s that all of them can benefit from RDB’s work rather than having a few of them.
Rwanda is again facing the human-wildlife conflict is and unfortunately it is at a very high increase in some parts of the country and yet in some cases, common sense is required to alleviate the impacts of conserving wildlife vis a vis defending human populations.
