*Soil Erosion - Current Challenges and Future Perspectives in a Changing World*

longitude of 29.532433° E. The altitude varies from 2,191 to 2,959 m. Gishwati area had greatly suffered with problems of soil erosion, landslide, gully, flooding, human loss and destruction of development infrastructures after 1994 due to occupation of fragile forest reserve by mass return of refugees. Gishwati was before a natural forest ecosystem which has been converted to agriculture, livestock and settlement lands. Land was intensively exploited mainly for agriculture purposes such as cropping of Irish potatoes, climbing beans, peas, wheat, tea, etc., but also with livestock activities on scattered pasture grasses and poorly managed woodlots (**Figure 2**).

**Figure 2.**

As many places in the country, Gishwati is characterized by a complex lithology and landscape diversity due to elevation differences from valley bottom to mountain summits. Soils in Rwanda vary across very short distances due to the complexity of relief and parent materials [16, 17]. This observation varies from hill to hill and hilltop to the lower slope and valley bottom [17]. Any intervention for its success should consider this biophysical complexity.

The drastic change in land use affected local communities to live regularly with risks of landslide and floodings. These risks are subjected to high rainfall rainfall ranging from 1800 to 2500 mm per year and to fragility of soils (*Ruseseka* in Kinyarwanda local language) from forest soils and volcanic materials lying on a bed-rock at very steep slopes. All these factors together with inappropriate agriculture practices and lack of land and water management measures induced very severe erosion. **Figure 3** demonstrates how eroded soil materials flooded the lowland (left) and leaving plantation tree outcropped (right).

## **3.2 Approach**

Since 2010, Gishwati Water and Land Management Project (GWLM) has been initiated to effectively counteract the landslides, floods and erosion risks but also

*Erosion Control Success Stories and Challenges in the Context of Sustainable Landscape… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96267*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Induced natural hazards: Landslide, erosion, flooding, silting, and root outcropped: Bigogwe, April 2007 (left) and April 2010 (right).*

strengthening the potential for agriculture development in Gishwati area in the context of improving livelihood communities. The GWLM project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) understood the vitality to sustainable restoring the landscape potentials of Gishwati and hence it developed an approach which consists of two resolutions:


In this context, the MINAGRI concerted efforts of technical/scientific expertise from potential actors including the local government, the beneficiary farmers, different Government institutions such as MINAGRI, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Water (currently MOE-Ministry of Environment), and other relevant agencies/ organizations to support the project goal. This aligns with participatory landscape approach by which key stakeholders contributing to economic development should intervene to establish a comprehensive approach for harmonizing the healthy coexistence of the agrarian communities with the fragile ecosystem of Gishwati.

The core issue of the Gishwati was to find a best way by which land degradation issues would be successfully avoided by linking different soil and water management interventions to the different land potential units of the project area while supporting sustainable existence between human needs and natural resource-based opportunities. A participatory and integrated landscape approachis considered to improved management of natural resources to support sustainable agricultural productivity but also taking into account the effects of climate change. Adoption of landscape approach puts attention to modernizing land and water management technologies as well as promoting extension services that effectively guaranty stability of sloping lands within Wet Rainfall Regimes of Gishwati.

The government realized that the intervention is of momentous challenge to assure stable and resilient environment using scientific-based technologies. Another aspect considered how the fertile Gishwati soil and the year-round rainfall contributes to the improved livelihood of the communities. This calls upon using ingeniously designed physical and biological technologies that guaranty the sustainability and productivity of the land through effective water and soil management practices. To materialize the economic potential of land husbandry technologies, farmers are encouraged to consolidate their lands for construction of suitable and

long-stretching land husbandry structures which guaranteed the increased and continued production of crop value chains of the project area in Nyabihu and Rubavu districts. The landscape restoration of this area has been supported by the policies, among others, the land consolidation, the crop intensification, transformation of subsistence to market-based agriculture, etc., as set by the MINAGRI.
