Integrating Indigenous Species into Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Congo Nile Divide
Details
Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020, refer to the School's name at that time.
Summary
The goal of this course is for restoration practitioners from public, private, and civil society entities in the Congo Nile Divide (CND) to gain knowledge and skills for restoring tree cover to the CND agricultural landscape, with an emphasis on indigenous species. Specifically, the course was designed to achieve the following:
- Enhance understanding of tropical forest ecology and indigenous species as applied to restoration interventions.
- Provide participants with practical assessment and design tools to tailor restoration to specific biophysical and social contexts.
- Expose participants to the range of restoration interventions to meet the ecological and social needs of local farmers, communities, and stakeholders.
This course is not open call. Invitation only.
Content
The course takes place over four days in Musanze district in Rwanda’s Northern Province and Rutsiro, and Karongi districts in Western Province. The sites were scouted and selected for the range of restoration principles and strategies that they demonstrate: Mpenge River restoration stewarded by Nature Rwanda, illustrating the biodiversity and ecosystem services recovered in four years of activities; conserved secondary forest of Gishwati National Park and steep slope reforestation, where participants will engage with forest dynamics and functional traits of indigenous species; and smallholder agroforestry that includes indigenous species on farms enrolled in One Acre Fund forest landscape restoration programs, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of incorporating trees into subsistence farms.