Forest of Hope

The Gishwati Area Conservation Program began in late 2007 when H.E. President Paul Kagame and Great Ape Trust and Earthpark Founder Ted Townsend pledged at the Clinton Global Initiative conference to found a “national conservation park” in Rwanda to benefit climate, biodiversity and the welfare of the Rwandan people. The Gishwati Forest Reserve was selected as the site.

Gishwati’s history of deforestation extends over 50 years because of ill-advised cattle ranching projects, resettlement of refugees after the genocide, inefficient small-plot farming and the establishment of plantations of non-native trees. As a result, the area has been plagued with catastrophic flooding, landslides, erosion, decreased soil fertility and reduced water quality – all of which aggravate a cycle of abject poverty.

But since our work began, the size of the Gishwati Forest has increased by 67 percent, the chimpanzee population has grown, and support for biodiversity conservation has swelled measurably among our neighbors in the Gishwati community. Gishwati is a model for new conservation approaches and has become a ‘Forest of Hope’ rather than being the place ‘beyond hope’ that it was just several years ago.”