The Forest of Hope Association celebrated the Awards received from The Alibaba Foundation and The Paradise Foundation, two Chinese not-for-profit environmental conservation organization. This awards was given to one of the FHA eco-guards, Mr. Ruzindana Nsengiyumva Alex, who was selected among 50 wildlife rangers working in 17 African countries to recognize the critical role that these rangers play in the wildlife conservation.

FHA eco-guards, Mr. Ruzindana Nsengiyumva Alex

In addition to the FHA staff and the forest protection team, the event was attended by local leaders, local community representative, just to celebrate this award and recognize their assistance in the protection of this forest of hope, Gishwati.

The Celebration event participants

During this event all speeches were just recognizing the work done by the Gishwati eco-guards dealing with a lot of challenges including taking people outside the forest. It was mentioned that local people were freely using its resources including minerals, land for crops, timber, firewood, wild honey, handcraft materials, fodder for animals, bean poles, water, wild fruits, etc. The major challenge for the eco-guards team was to stop these unsustainable activities in a situation where they could not convince the resource users that what they were doing was illegal because the forest was not demarcated. Local leaders and community representatives appreciated that a member of the Gishwati protection team received this awards and shared their commitment to continue supporting the protection of Gishwati forest.

Alexis worked for the Great Ape Trust/Gishwati Area Conservation Program (GACP) from 2008 through 2011 and since then to current, he works for Forest of Hope Association (FHA). He started his job from scratch as one of six eco-guards who pioneered the Gishwati forest patrols. Alexis as demobilized young man from the army suggested the following to his superiors: “Instead of carrying guns that will scare people, can we rather start our work by talking to resource users that we will find inside and the environs of the forest during our patrols? I believe this will help us to let them know that this forest is important for their households and possibly they will accept to collaborate with us to restore it.” This message became the foundation of the community forest protection approach that makes Gishwati conservation different. Since then Alexis and his colleagues use conservation messages instead of guns as a weapon to reduce the illegal use of the forest resources. When they find someone illegally using the forest they educate him and his family and only report him if found for the fourth time. This has built trust between FHA and the local community. As a result, over the last 10 years, Gishwati forest got clear boundaries, its size increased from 800 hectares to 1570 hectares, the number of chimpanzees increased from 13 to 30, the forest cover almost doubled, illegal use of the forest resources declined by 90% from 2008 to 2017 and local attitudes changed from 27% to 75% between 2008 and 2017. Importantly, in February 2016, the government of Rwanda upgraded the status of the Gishwati from forest reserve to national park together with Mukura forest. This ensures its longer protection.

Five of the six FHA community Agents who Patrols this nothern part of Gishwati-Mukura National park

Apart from guiding his team in daily activities, continue advising his superiors in good strategies that can make impact. For instance he suggested organizing forest joint patrols with army and the national police in Nduruma area where illegal mining takes place inside Gishwati forest. It was difficult for eco-guards to face big groups of illegal miners by their own because sometimes they organized defensive attacks armed with traditional weapons. Joint patrols have been very successful to reduce illegal mining. Also Alexis suggested joining local people in monthly community work as an opportunity to interact, hear about issues related to conservation such as crop raiding and to raise the public awareness on conservation. This has also been very successful and inspirational to other institutions and people in the area. Alexis continues his work in Gishwati with FHA. He is committed to pass his knowledge and skills to the local youth and continue inspiring people not only in the Gishwati area but also in the whole Rwanda and the region.

We are thankful to the head of conservation department at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Eugene MUTANGANA, who nominated Alex for the The African Ranger Awards. RDB is a partner of FHA in conservation of the Gishwati forest and is currently getting ready to take over the management of the Gishwati-Mukura National Park.

We are also grateful to the The Alibaba Foundation and The Paradise Foundation that provided this award to the FHA eco-guards. This year, The African Ranger Awards honored 50 frontline rangers from 17 African countries, who are sacrificing so much to protect Africa’s wildlife against illegal hunting and trading. Over the next ten years, 500 rangers will be recognized through the program.

Forest of Hope Association (FHA) is a registered Rwandan Non-Government Organization. It was created in 2012 by former employees of the Great Ape Trust/Gishwati Area Conservation Programme (GACP), when it closed in 2011. The short term goal was to fill the gap. The FHA long term mission is engaging local communities in conservation of protected areas through community forest protection; sensitizing local people about the importance of conserving protected areas; improving local livelihoods and reducing human-wildlife conflicts.