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Maurice Manishimwe runs a small garage beside a fuel station in Musango village, just outside the Rwandan capital of Kigali, in a nation known as the land of a thousand hills. Sandwiched between one of those hills and the Nyabugogo River, his workshop hums with activity as people arrive with cars and equipment to be tested and repaired.<\/p>\n
But this busy location comes at a cost: When rainstorms hit, water running off the hillsides and rising river levels flood the streets and spill into Manishimwe\u2019s workplace. \u201cOur shops were submerged and our goods were destroyed,\u201d says the 30-year-old, speaking about a December 2023 storm that surrounded his garage with knee-high water. He says the flood cost him thousands of dollars in lost inventory and tools.<\/p>\n
Manishimwe built a higher step into his workshop to protect his brake pads and taillights, laid new tiles, and replaced his wooden shelves. Still, he worries that heavy rains could once again wreck his shop.<\/p>\n
Kigali, a city of 1.7 million, has historically seen an average of nearly 40 inches of rain a year. But rainy seasons in Rwanda are becoming both \u201cshorter and more intense,\u201d according to the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA). Since 2017, East Africa\u2019s spring rains have shown record-breaking extremes as warmer air and ocean surfaces load storms with more moisture.<\/p>\n
In just three years, Kigali converted a degraded swamp into a functioning wetland featuring ponds, a riverine forest, and a savanna.<\/p>\n
Forty years ago, Kigali was protected from stormwaters by extensive wetlands at the base of its many hills. The wetlands soaked up rain, slowed floods, and filtered runoff. But decades of degradation, including informal agriculture, sand mining, and industrial dumping in these areas have reduced the wetlands\u2019 ability to perform these essential ecological functions.<\/p>\n
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Rapid urban growth has placed additional pressure on the wetlands.\u00a0The city\u2019s population has risen by 4 percent each year since 2020, and open space continues to be replaced with impermeable concrete, which sends ever more runoff downhill. The flooding erodes soil, destroys buildings and infrastructure, and causes tens of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage a year, according to Teddy Kaberuka, a Rwandan economist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eager to protect its citizens and property, create green space for communities and wildlife, and curb financial losses, Kigali began working nearly a decade ago to restore its natural defenses. In just a three-year period, the city converted a degraded swamp into a functioning wetland \u2014 featuring a series of ponds, a riverine forest, and a savanna \u2014 that stores carbon, controls floods, filters pollutants, and enhances biodiversity. Building on that success, the city is currently reforesting hillsides and restoring an integrated wetland system that will eventually span more than 18,000 acres. The ambitious project will ultimately reshape one of Africa\u2019s fastest growing capitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flooding in Kigali in January 2020.<\/span> As wetland loss accelerates worldwide, few cities have the space, resources, or political will to restore nature at this scale. Kigali\u2019s project cannot stop floods on its own or reverse climate change, but it represents a rare, citywide effort to rebuild nature-based infrastructure \u2014 offering one of the continent\u2019s clearest models for urban areas seeking to boost their resilience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kigali sits within what was once an exceptionally soggy and verdant landscape, with 37 interconnected\u00a0<\/strong>wetlands\u00a0covering almost\u00a023,000 acres, or 12.5 percent of the city\u2019s land mass. These weren\u2019t small urban ponds\u00a0with patches of swampland but broad, saturated expanses teeming with vegetation\u00a0that supported birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city\u2019s wetlands functioned as a vast natural sponge, soaking\u00a0up excess water, reducing flooding, trapping sediment, and filtering pollutants before they reached streams and rivers. Wetlands also cool surrounding neighborhoods through moisture release and shading and, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, support a diverse array of wildlife in their reedbeds and grasslands, and store carbon in their soils and vegetation.<\/p>\n By mid-2026, restored sites will form a ribbon of parks and wetlands that will guide stormwater safely downstream.<\/p>\n But in Kigali, explained Gloriose Umuziranenge, a senior lecturer in the Department of Urban and Environmental Management at Protestant University Rwanda, urban expansion \u2014 including the construction of new roads, housing estates, commercial developments, and hillside settlements \u2014 as well as the pasturing of livestock and dumping of waste gradually degraded the city\u2019s wetlands. At least 50 percent of Kigali\u2019s wetlands have lost their ecological character, according to the World Bank, meaning these wetlands have lost their \u201ccapacity to absorb and store excess rainwater,\u201d Umuziranenge said. This local trend reflects a global pattern: about 22 percent of the world\u2019s wetlands, around 1 billion acres, have been lost since 1970, and 25 percent of the remainder are degraded.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eastern Kigali\u2019s Nyandungu wetland is a case in point. The formerly lush area had been despoiled by decades of sand mining, stony quarrying, and cattle grazing. It frequently flooded the nearby roadway, jamming up traffic and endangering lives. In response, REMA \u2014 with support\u00a0from the World Bank, Global Environment Facility, and Rwanda Green Fund \u2014 began in 2016 to transform this wasteland, at a cost of $5 million,\u00a0into a biologically productive landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, the 400-acre Nyandungu Eco-Park is alive with marshes, ponds, and more than 200 species of birds. \u201cFrom the time [the wetland] was restored,\u201d said park manager Ildephonse Kambogo, \u201cthere was no more flooding.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Nyandungu Eco-Park, a restored wetland in Kigali.<\/span> The success of the Nyandungu pilot project reshaped national thinking about other wetlands, said Richard Mind\u2019je, an environmental studies lecturer at the University of Lay Adventists of Kigali. \u201cAfter having this benefit, Rwanda said, \u2018Why can\u2019t we now restore other wetlands from Kigali so that we can keep benefiting from these services?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Today, cranes and diggers are working amid the bustle of Kigali\u2019s streets \u2014 crowded with buses, moto taxis, shops, and homes \u2014 to restore and reshape five more degraded wetlands, covering 1,200 acres. Hundreds of workers are reshaping the land, creating islands, lakes, and ponds, clearing water channels, planting indigenous species, removing invasives, and establishing reed beds.<\/p>\n By mid-2026, according to the city\u2019s restoration blueprint,<\/strong> the restored sites \u2014 Gikondo, Rwamperu, Kibumba, Nyabugogo, and Rugenge-Rwintare \u2014 will link up, forming a continuous ribbon of wildlife corridors, parks that contain 36 miles of walkways and bike lanes, and wetlands that guide stormwater safely downstream. With wetlands\u00a0under threat across the continent, the project has the potential to serve as a model for other African cities, said Julie Mulonga, East Africa director for Wetlands International. Its design, financing, and community engagement are all elements \u201cthat can be replicated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Many of the areas now set aside for restoration have been used informally for generations \u2014 to grow food, graze cattle, and fish.<\/p>\n Yet challenges remain as Kigali expands. The city must balance\u00a0new green spaces for flood protection and climate resilience with residents\u2019 need for agricultural land. Many of the areas now set aside for restoration have been used informally for generations \u2014 to grow food, graze cattle, and fish.\u00a0According to a 2019 report by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society, 53 percent of Rwanda\u2019s wetlands had, by 2015, been converted to agriculture. The land is government-owned, and its use has, so far, been tolerated, as these wetlands are clearly spaces that people have come to depend on.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Sponge City\u2019: Copenhagen adapts to a wetter future. Read more.<\/p>\n The Kigali Master Plan 2050 aims to restore and protect 18,000 acres of wetlands that thread between the city\u2019s hills, said Emma Claudine Ntirenganya, a spokesperson for the City of Kigali, but more than\u00a014,000 farming households\u00a0could lose access to these areas if the city\u2019s restoration ambitions proceed as planned. Nyandungu, for example, no longer allows agricultural activity, its grounds are fenced, and entry now requires a fee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Park manager Kambogo acknowledged that informal use has continued in Nyandungu, including illegal fishing and collecting grass for cattle. He said some breaches, such as fence cutting, incurred fines and that it was important to engage with and educate the local community until they \u201cunderstand the importance of having the wetlands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Farmers harvest green beans in Kigali.<\/span> Emphasizing conservation and tourism over agriculture, said Alan Dixon, a professor of sustainable development at the University of Worcester, in the U.K., risks creating \u201cspaces of exclusion.\u201d Ultimately, he said, \u201cpeople have just got to feed themselves. Everywhere else is drying up, the weather is becoming less predictable,\u00a0so wetlands are the last place in the catchment that people can [use].\u201d The dilemma for governments, planners, and conservationists, he added, is \u201chow do you allow people to use these areas while also retaining the environmental integrity?\u201d<\/p>\n Christian Benimana, a Rwandan architect and the founding director of the African Design Centre, emphasized the importance of monitoring social impacts as Kigali restores its wetlands.\u00a0So far, among the six wetlands restored to date, he said, displacement hasn\u2019t yet occurred, \u201cbut it\u2019s something that might happen.\u201d Gentrification is also a concern. \u201cBefore, you were living close to makeshift car shops, and all of a sudden it\u2019s a beautiful park,\u201d he said. \u201cIs it bad that it makes these people\u2019s property more valuable? I don\u2019t think so. Is it bad if it leads to some form of negative gentrification? I think so.\u201d<\/p>\n For some residents, relocating from the wetlands has been a relief rather than a loss. Athanase Segatsinzi, 60, head of Runyonza Village in Nyandungu, spent decades farming and grazing cattle in the flood-prone area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kigali launched a campaign to plant 3 million trees, creating a continuous network of forest that links restored wetlands.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen heavy rains came, the wetland overflowed and destroyed our crops,\u201d he recalled. \u201cEven after the water receded, everything was ruined.\u201d In 2019, he says, farmers and herders using the wetland were resettled in Rwanda\u2019s Eastern Province, where the government gave his family 15 acres to farm. \u201cMilk production increased because my cows now graze on a much larger area without the risk of losing pasture to floods,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But wetlands alone cannot protect the capital from flooding as temperatures rise, rainfall intensifies, and deforestation of the city\u2019s slopes compounds the city\u2019s challenges. \u201cIf you\u2019re deforesting the catchment,\u201d Dixon said, \u201cno amount of wetland is going to make much difference.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, the City of Kigali last year launched a community campaign that aims to plant 3 million trees over five years, creating a continuous network of forest that links the restored wetlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n As floods worsen, Pakistan is the epicenter of climate change. Read more.<\/p>\n Gatsata Hill, the steep slope that channels torrents of water into Maurice Manishimwe\u2019s workplace, is currently being reforested, and the wetland in front of his garage is being restored. Together, these interventions will create a buffer that fills him with optimism.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the reforestation is complete and the trees take root, the water that used to rush downhill will slow,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when the Nyabugogo wetland restoration is finished, the flooding problem will be solved for good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maurice Manishimwe runs a small garage beside a fuel station in Musango village, just outside the Rwandan capital of Kigali, in a nation known as the land of a thousand hills. Sandwiched between one of those hills and the Nyabugogo River, his workshop hums with activity as people arrive with cars and equipment to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[8121,1485,586,15603,21748,401],"class_list":{"0":"post-40475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-african","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-flooding","11":"tag-plagued","12":"tag-reengineers","13":"tag-wetlands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Emmanuel Kwizera via Wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Freddie Clayton<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Camille Delbos \/ Art In All of Us \/ Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n