Impacts of Biodiversity Threats on the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goal15 “Life on Land” in Albertine Rift Forests of Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park.

Abstract

The SDG₁₅ “Life on the Land” aims to sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss. This research tends therefore at providing information to establish the pathway to lead to SDG15 in Nyungwe natural forest. A forest resource assessment was carried out to identify the stock of the threatened tree species in Nyungwe National Park. In this study we conducted a patrol with rangers and staff of NNP inside the forest, where all signs of illegal activities uncounted along way were recorded with the help of a hand held Global Positioning System devises. High elevation sites show the lowest occurrence probability of threats, and near the park boundary and ranger posts. The study established that four species were targeted for use as timber, of which the most sought after were Prunus Africana, Pentadesma reyndersii, Podocarpus folicatus, and Entandrophragma excelsum. These timber trees were found in low densities in the study area, suggesting that they were targeted for pitsawying. Thus these species were present critically in abundance and sizes to allow sustainable utilization. The vulnerability of species was based on different criteria including abundance, dominance, diameter size-class distribution and regeneration. The results found that there is no significant relationship between species richness and threats uncounted at R (6) = 0.096 at P-Value of 0.8. This study also found that the sites differ in threats, with respect to the distance from the edge of the forest toward inside. The chi–square calculated 35.71 was greater than the expected one 0.9. However, this study found that the difference is significant in terms of number of threats per distance walked from the edge of the forest. The similarity between plant communities for the eight Sites surveyed was calculated Using Bray-Curtis cluster Analysis (Single Link). The results Shows that Kivu, Ruheru & Bweyeye, Butare, were the most similar by 95.2% and by 93% respectively. Sites Cyato, Unkingi & Kivu and Kitabi were the most dissimilar. Cyato, Unkingi were similar by 58.5% while Kivu, Kitabi were similar by 66.9%. In order to reduce threats, the civic engagement and revenue sharing scheme review were suggested to help restore and conserve this important wildlife habitat while engaging community around the forest. Revenue sharing scheme need to be revised so that it can fit with the sustainable livelihood appraisal as it has been mentioned in the conceptual framework developed for this study.