As part of Rwanda’s monthly Umuganda community service, the campaign engages residents, organizations, and the broader community to ensure the long-term sustainability of trees planted throughout Kigali, encouraging shared responsibility for their care and maintenance. The October event also marked the community launch of SUNCASA in the districts of Kicukiro, Nyarugenge, and Gasabo. Hundreds of residents gathered at the three sites to participate in the community work, planting around 9,200 trees. The City of Kigali expects to plant 3 million trees in 5 years. SUNCASA will be pivotal in achieving this goal, as the project seeks to collaborate with 2 million new trees planted to restore the Nyabarongo River catchment.

Speaking at the event, Lord Mayor of Kigali Samuel Dusengiyumva underscored the importance of the partnership with SUNCASA and community-driven environmental initiatives, stating, “What we are doing with the ‘My Tree campaign,’ Igiti Chanje, is to encourage citizens to go beyond planting trees to ensure that the trees that we plant, we take care of them, we ensure that they grow so that they can serve the purpose.”

“Together with the SUNCASA project, we are aiming to plant 2 million trees within only 3 years or 2 years to come. The SUNCASA project is a perfect match with the city plan to become a city in the forest,” remarked Lord Mayor Samuel Dusengiyumva.

Through various communication channels, the campaign seeks to create a lasting commitment to tree care, positioning Kigali as a green, sustainable city where every individual and organization plays an active role in preserving and nurturing the urban environment. “By leveraging the voices of community champions and influencers, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the environmental, social, and economic benefits of trees while fostering a deep sense of ownership, particularly among Kigali’s residents,” said Lord Mayor Samuel Dusengiyumva.

Through a gender-responsive nature-based solution approach, SUNCASA will see the reforestation of steep slopes, the creation of agroforestry systems, and the establishment of urban tree-planting efforts that will help protect high-risk households, stabilize gullies, and reduce the vulnerabilities associated with Kigali’s rapidly urbanizing topography. In addition to the City of Kigali, SUNCASA is being implemented along with ARCOS Network, AVEGA-Agahozo, and Rwanda Young Water Professionals.

Marc Manyifika, World Resources Institute Lead of Urban Water Resilience for Africa, observed that the ‘My Tree’ campaign and SUNCASA align with global efforts to tackle climate change. “Kigali is leading by example. We cannot ignore the pressing threats of landslides and flooding that affect thousands of households. By working together, we are actively shaping the future we want to see for a greener Kigali. The city is setting a strong example in addressing climate challenges.

The ‘#IgitiCyanje’ campaign aligns perfectly with SUNCASA’s vision and mission, as it not only promotes tree planting across this vibrant city but also fosters community engagement to ensure the long-term sustainability of the NbS that are making Kigali greener and more resilient to the impacts of climate change,” said Kulupa Mkindlanyana, SUNCASA’s Project Manager representing IISD at the event.

SUNCASA IN KIGALI

• Investing CAD 9 million (USD 7 million) in gender-responsive nature-based solutions through 2026.
• Enhancing the resilience of 975,000 residents living in climate-risk areas.
• Planting 827,000 trees in 220 ha through afforestation (new forest) actions.
• Reforesting 650 ha with more than 1 million trees.
• Planting 125,000 trees through agroforestry across 1,292 ha.
• Developing 395.6 ha in buffer zones.
• Urban green gardening with the planting of 41,600 trees along 52,488 km of roadways and 43,400 trees in 44.7 ha of public gardens.
• Creating 5,000 green jobs in SUNCASA implementation activities.

ABOUT UMUGANDA

Umuganda, also known as community work with the purpose of contributing to the overall national development, was reintroduced to Rwandan life in 1998 as part of efforts to rebuild the country after the 1994 Genocide against the Tusti. It takes place on the last Saturday of each month.

As the world gears up to celebrate World Rivers Day on September 22, we should take a moment to reflect on the vital role that rivers have played in sustaining human evolution.

Rivers are one of the world’s most precious resources, but they are invariably undervalued. Long before we engineered running water, rivers flowed through our landscapes, pumping fresh water to wetlands and lakes and out to sea.  Animals and plants found sanctuary in the rivers, fish swam in their waters, and birds flew overhead. Vegetation was replenished by seeds carried by rivers for thousands of miles, while a multitude of species used rivers as migration routes. These waterways did not just sustain life on Earth, they were also part of the fabric of our culture and history, shaping identities of entire nations. The valleys of some great rivers contain many sites of early human settlement, and for centuries, rivers served as trade routes across the globe, influencing the economic, social, political, and religious development of mankind.

Today, these values still exist, and in some ways, are even more significant than before. An estimated 2 billion people globally rely directly on rivers for their drinking water, while about 500 million live on deltas that are sustained by sediment from rivers. But in a world where our climate is rapidly changing, and the global population is expected to increase by nearly 2 billion in the next 30 years, rivers are under pressure. There is a critical need to protect and preserve these invaluable natural resources.

The Nsongwe community, some 30 minutes outside of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in southern Zambia, knows this all too well. The Nsongwe River, a spring-fed waterway that was once their lifeline and sanctuary, is no more the victim of poor planning and neglect. However, over a period of 13 years, a small group of community members have been working to desilt, reforest, and restore parts of the river. We spoke to one of the local women from the village, Bridget Meyer, who kicked off this work and has been leading the river’s restoration, and asked her to share her story.

What do you remember about the Nsongwe River growing up?

“I remember the river being vibrant with life and flowing all year round through the heart of a lush forest. We revered the Nsongwe River not only as a recreational spot for swimming but also for its healing waters believed to possess curative properties that could soothe ailments and restore well-being.

The cool, clear waters, shaded by a thick canopy above, offered a serene escape from the heat.

As a young girl, the Nsongwe River was a big recreation area for me and my friends. We spent our weekends enjoying the cool breeze along the river as we collected a special grass to make baskets. We chased butterflies along the Nsongwe River corridor, believing that you would receive a beautiful and colourful gift at Christmas resembling the colour of the butterfly you caught. We swam every day. A section of the river was lined with a wall of basalt rock on which girls and boys listed love notes in chalk. Gossip and other communal information was exchanged on this wall. At any one point in the afternoons, there would be about 10 or more girls swimming and enjoying the river. We made sound echoes that bounced off the rock wall.

A special wild pea with big pods grew every rainy season. We harvested the pods and squeezed one edge that would pop open. We used the opening to slide in our earlobes and wear as earrings. We wore them for Christmas! I really cherish those moments.

The river did not only appeal to the locals who dwelled near it; it was also a critical habitat for wildlife, most notably the hippos. The dense forest and the abundant water provided the hippos with everything they needed: safety from predators, lush vegetation for grazing, and ample space to submerge and keep cool under the hot sun.

The Nsongwe River was more than just a body of water; it was a sanctuary, both for the communities who dwelled near it and the wildlife that called it home.

What is the state of the Nsongwe River today?

“The river has undergone a very dramatic transformation. Currently, it stands mostly dry, its former glory significantly diminished. Many of the deep pools that dotted its course have been filled with soil and sand, a testament to the neglect and environmental degradation it has suffered.

The lush forest that once lined its banks, providing shade and a cool microclimate, has been largely cleared. The removal of these trees not only took away the river’s natural cooling mechanism but also exposed the surrounding land to the harsh sun. This deforestation has had a domino effect, leading to increased erosion along the riverbanks. The soil, once held firmly in place by the roots of countless trees, has washed away, leaving behind barren and eroded fields.

Without the protective cover of the forest and the sustaining waters of the river, the local wildlife has suffered. The hippos, which once brought their young to grow and thrive in the safety of the Nsongwe River’s waters, no longer visit. The river, devoid of its life-giving flow, cannot support them, nor the fish.

The community, too, feels the absence of the river's bounty. Swimming, a joyful and communal activity that also served as a respite from the heat, is no longer possible. The river, which once healed and nurtured, now serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of natural ecosystems and the profound impact of human activity on the environment.”

What has the community done to successfully restore the river?

“Over a period of 13 years, a small group of community members have been working to desilt, reforest, and restore parts of the river. To date, we have managed to remove soil deposits and plant native hydrophilic plants along a 300-metre stretch of the riverbank.

We pumped water from our well to a drinking trough for cattle away from the river to protect the restoration works. These actions, albeit very minimal, have restored some natural springs that had been buried, and the area where we concentrated our efforts has started showing signs of life.

In the vast dryness that has characterized the Nsongwe community for several decades, this stretch is now a cool, green haven.

Community members have started gathering to cool off in the water, and a lone crocodile has also taken permanent residence in the area.

This success serves as a beacon of hope and has sparked a wave of renewed optimism among the local community and conservationists alike that the entire river could potentially be returned to its former state.

What would it mean to the community if the Nsongwe River started flowing again?

“Revitalizing the Nsongwe River would bring numerous benefits, both ecological and economic.

For the village, the resurgence of the river could lead to a revival of local activities and traditions that were once centred around its waters. Swimming and fishing, activities that foster community bonding and support local livelihoods, could once again thrive.

The return of clean, flowing water would also ensure the health and sustainability of local gardens, boosting food production and supporting self-sufficiency.

Moreover, the restoration of the forest surrounding the river would be equally good. Replanting trees and rehabilitating the forest would not only help stabilize the climate around the river by providing much-needed shade and reducing erosion, but would also reestablish a habitat for wildlife, including the once-common hippos. The cooler microclimate would make the area more comfortable for both residents and visitors, enhancing the village’s appeal as a destination for ecotourism.

Such environmental restoration could catalyze economic revitalization. With the river and forest restored, new opportunities could arise in ecotourism and agroforestry, providing jobs and stimulating economic activity. Local markets could see a surge in demand for agricultural products and crafts, further energizing the village’s economy.

In essence, the restoration of the Nsongwe River and its surrounding forest is not just an ecological necessity but a cornerstone for the future prosperity of the village, fostering a sustainable model that could inspire similar efforts elsewhere. That is why the work we are doing with the Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas Initiative is so important!”

The work already done by the community was the proof of concept that Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA) partners IISD and WWF Zambia needed to scale up the nature-based solutions that the community had achieved. With support from Global Affairs Canada, the CAPA Initiative is now supporting the Nsongwe community to restore the river and its tributaries, the Lubemba and Lutwa streams.

So far, this has meant conducting risk assessments to better understand the unique climate, biodiversity, and gender risks faced by the community, alongside hydrological assessments to identify areas suitable for specific restoration efforts, including desilting and the construction of check dams to control water velocity, conserve soil, and improve the land.

Through CAPA, IISD and WWF Zambia have managed to get the whole community involved, including their Senior Chief—who has since encouraged villages outside of the CAPA target area to do the same.

Beyond the river itself, CAPA is also supporting the community in restoring 400 hectares of forest along the Nsongwe River and is constructing fire breaks along a 50-metre buffer zone on both sides of the river to protect the restored areas. These efforts will support effective water recharge, flow, and availability during the dry seasons, thereby contributing to efforts to revive the Nsongwe—which once ran for 5 kilometres before joining the Zambezi—to its former glory.

This work is part of CAPA’s efforts to design and implement concrete gender-responsive, conflict-sensitive, nature-based solutions to support local communities to adapt to climate change while safeguarding critical ecosystems and biodiversity in and around protected areas in the Kavango–Zambezi landscape.

What started as a one-woman effort, with support from a few community members, is now a whole community effort, and we are proud to be working alongside them to restore the whole river and two of its tributaries.

Learn more about what we are doing in the Kavango–Zambezi Landscape.

Drought and Desertification

Drought has affected more people than any other natural disaster over the last 40 years, by drastically reducing both water quality and quantity, increasing the risk of disease and illness, and severely impacting livelihoods and nutrition through land degradation and food scarcity.

Extreme weather patterns, exacerbated by climate change, have resulted in some areas receiving a whole season’s rainfall in a single day, followed by an entire season with no rainfall at all. This variability is disastrous for communities, as it impacts soil health, agriculture, biodiversity, and hydropower, and often damages vital infrastructure. Such extremes leave land damaged through desertification: a form of land degradation in which drylands lose moisture and nutrients, becoming arid. This process can also be sparked through human activities, including agricultural factors like overgrazing and tilling, urban expansion and deforestation. Globally, more than 2 billion hectares of previously productive land has been degraded through desertification. That is an area twice the size of the United States!

Currently, drought affects 1.84 billion people globally—that’s one in eight people. And it is set to get worse. The duration and frequency of droughts have increased by 29% since 2000, compared with the previous two decades. With further global warming, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report found that every region is projected to experience more frequent heatwaves and droughts. By 2040, one in four children will be living in areas with extreme water shortages, with far-reaching impacts for future generations.

Drought is one of the most devastating and pervasive challenges exacerbated by climate change. However, we can work to reduce its effects by learning from nature.

Drought: A global problem

Drought is a global concern. The greatest impact is on low- and middle-income countries, where 85% of people affected by drought reside, according to the World Bank. Agriculture is at the heart of these economies and is the sector most affected by drought, absorbing up to 80% of all direct impacts. Nearly 1.3 billion people rely on agriculture as their main source of income. As intense weather worsens, droughts increase in intensity and frequency and the Earth heats up, there will be devastating impacts on communities, people's livelihoods, food security, and global economies.

An average of 70 countries are affected by drought each year. The World Bank mapped recent drought and desertification hotspots from 2019 to 2022, demonstrating that this phenomenon is intensifying in five out of seven continents. These hotspots are illustrated in the below map, which will name the country when you hover over it.

Even the areas currently not affected by water scarcity will soon feel its effects due to climate-related migration. By 2030, an estimated 700 million people will be at risk of displacement from drought alone. More people will lose their livelihoods. They will be forced to flee their homes. Food will become harder to come by, as millions of hectares of land dries up and becomes uninhabitable. Drought has the potential to be a silent tsunami, sweeping across great swathes of our landscape over the next decade, with developing and least developed countries set to be the worst affected.

Nature-based solutions—an antidote to drought

Nature is a resilient teacher. By employing nature’s own checks and balances for environmental extremes like drought and desertification, we can adapt the landscape to absorb some of the impacts of climate change.

Lessons found in nature are implemented through nature-based solutions (NbS) that help protect, restore, and sustainably use ecosystems while simultaneously providing human well-being, resilience, and biodiversity benefits. Examples of NbS include planting trees to improve air and soil quality, retain water, and provide wildlife habitats, or restoring wetlands to create buffer zones for flooding and to support erosion protection. This green approach to infrastructure services can complement—and sometimes replace—traditional grey infrastructure, such as concrete drains, seawalls, or breakwaters. Known as nature-based or natural infrastructure, this type of NbS can be employed to reduce the impacts of drought and desertification.

Combatting extreme droughts in Burkina Faso

In West Africa, Burkina Faso is experiencing severe impacts of climate change in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall and flooding events coupled with prolonged droughts. As a result, 46% of the country's arable land is now degraded. 80% of the population relies on agriculture for income, so drought and heat stress have detrimentally affected livelihoods and resulted in food scarcity.

To combat this, the government has proposed a new land restoration project that aims to regenerate over a third of the country’s total land cover. Through the Nature-Based Infrastructure (NBI) Global Resource Centre, an initiative aiming to demonstrate the investment case for nature-based approaches to climate change adaptation, IISD assessed three potential methods for land restoration: nature-based, hybrid and traditional grey infrastructure. Working with Burkina Faso’s Ministries of Finance and Agriculture, and supported by the NDC Partnership, the NBI Global Resource Centre developed financial and economic models, calculating that the nature-based approach performed better than traditional grey infrastructure, to the tune of USD 1.7 billion in added benefits to the community over 30 years.

Consisting of tree planting, climate-smart agriculture, regenerative agriculture practices, and the establishment of agro-silvo-pastoral areas (which integrate agriculture, grasslands, fruit crops, and livestock farming), the combined methods reduce land erosion, enhance water retention, and improve soil quality, thereby helping to restore the degraded land and boost agricultural productivity. This modelling demonstrates the remarkable potential of nature in restoring land and reversing desertification while creating a wealth of environmental, social, and economic benefits for rural communities.

Nature-based solutions are like a Swiss Army knife. They can help us tackle many problems in a single project: drought, flooding, climate-related migration, food scarcity, nutrition, public health, rural livelihoods and the economy, CO2 emissions, heat stress, biodiversity protection—and even social inequality. Because of its inherent resilience, working with nature—rather than against it—effectively reduces the impacts of drought and stops desertification in its tracks. But we need to deploy nature urgently; at least 100 million hectares of healthy land, an area the size of Egypt, is lost every year.

Three ways to include nature in climate adaptation

Increase awareness to demonstrate the diverse returns on investment

The first critical step for the successful implementation of NbS is to increase awareness of how nature can deliver these benefits by engaging with local communities, farmers, policymakers, and investors.

IISD has worked on a variety of projects doing just that all over the world. The Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative developed an online course to raise awareness of the benefits of ecosystem-based adaptation and equip learners with transferable and replicable skills in designing and implementing these initiatives. Furthermore, in Manitoba, Canada, our Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions team worked with the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District to demonstrate the financial and economic benefits of their Water Retention program to local farmers and communities. The program helps protect farms from floods and drought, conserves habitats, and improves water quality downstream. David Wiens, a dairy producer in the district, said of the program: “My initial concern was about having the pastures flooded for a period of time. But when I understood the design, it became clear that it would actually be win–win.”

We can also tackle social inequalities by empowering underrepresented groups to pave the way for nature-based approaches. For example, a project that aimed to improve women’s land ownership in Rwanda also increased investments in soil conservation. In the Amazon, securing land rights for Indigenous People helped reduce deforestation. The impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises interact with social and gender inequalities, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations, and NbS initiatives must take this into account to boost societal benefits.

Collaboration is key—consider drought as part of a wider problem

Drought and degraded land are not isolated issues. They have far-reaching impacts and implications for all areas of society, including public health, agriculture, the economy, and migration. An intersectional, unified approach between local communities, farmers, and policy-makers is crucial to gaining investment. Government ministries must come together to find solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Local governments need to work with farmers and communities to support projects on the ground. Non-governmental organizations and governments can align with private investors to encourage financial flows to land restoration projects that sequester carbon and improve agricultural yields. Overall, stakeholders must break out of their silos and work together with an intersectional and coordinated approach to the problem.

Encourage and implement climate-smart and regenerative agricultural practices

In areas worst affected by drought, raising awareness, and funds and providing training for agricultural communities on implementing climate-smart and regenerative agricultural practices is crucial to maintaining land-restoration progress. Depending on the location, these practices can include reduced- and no-tilling techniques, “half-moons” or “earth smiles” (a traditional method of rainwater collection and soil restoration in the Sahel), keeping soil covered to prevent erosion, increasing crop diversity to boost soil health, nature-based water retention methods like channel rehabilitation, planting agroforests, creating agro-silvo-pastoral areas, and many more. These strategies are necessary to both recover already degraded land and prevent further desertification as droughts worsen with climate change.

Drought has been a concern for agriculture around the globe. Even in areas that are not directly affected to the extreme levels seen in low- or middle-income countries, action needs to be taken. By implementing NbS and making changes now to agricultural practices, farmers, communities, and policymakers can do their part to lessen future impacts of the climate crisis.

Learning more about how nature can help

With drought intensifying in five of seven continents, as well as the other climate crisis effects we are facing globally, it can feel a bit hopeless.  However, if we collaborate on solutions, using nature as our example, we can improve our climate adaptation strategies locally and globally.

Here at IISD, we have a number of ways for you to explore solutions, learn from case studies, and discover more about working with nature for climate adaptation.

• Nature-Based Infrastructure (NBI) Global Resource Centre
• Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions (NIWS)
• SUNCASA - Resilient Cities. Natural Solutions.
• Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA)
• Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative (NCAI)
• Natur’ELLES
• FERMA
• Nature-based Solutions to Enhance Resilience to Climate Change (NATALIE)