{Senior officials from the central, local government and security agencies have vowed to take robust measures to “turn Nyabarongo River blue.”}
The decision was arrived at following a study conducted by officials from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources together with the Rwanda National Police’s Environmental Protection Unit.
The study that revealed gross contamination of Rwanda’s longest river was presented to a consultative meeting that brought together several cabinet ministers, senior military and police officers and local government officials, yesterday.
The meeting heard that much of what causes pollution to an extent that the river is brown in color is due to human activities like illegal mining and encroachment on the river banks that has caused gross erosion.
Natural phenomenon, unsustainable agriculture without soil protection, landslides, heavy river sedimentation, domestic and industrial discharges, clearing of natural vegetation and river flow disturbances are among the issues resulting to Nyabarongo river contamination as per MINERENA and RNP findings.
The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Dr Vincent Biruta said “if we prevent with human activities we would reduce the damages by 30 percent. If we ensure that the public abide by the buffer zone limitations we would also save another 30 percent at almost no cost.”
Several officials called for complete ownership of the move of turning Nyabarongo blue, however one of the challenges that were presented at the meeting is the involvement of some officials in activities like mining and deforestation that affect the river.
Minister Biruta directed local leaders to suspend any company whose activities damage environment.
The Minister of Defense, Gen. James Kabarebe called for a reinforcement of RNP’s Environmental Protection Unit to spearhead the protection programme.
“This unit should be given all the resources, manpower and equipment necessary to conduct thorough investigations into anyone that maybe involved in environmental crimes and hold every person responsible to account,” said Gen Kabarebe.
He added that; “This issue should be resolved and police should be responsible for following up to ensure they implement the agreed on measures.”
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K Gasana expressed the need to move faster and swiftly in cleaning up Nyabarongo river saying that if the river is not preserved urgently it may not be easy for the future generation to reverse the negative trend.
“We must make this a priority and own the process of saving this situation. If we are to have a second hydropower plant on Nyabarongo river as it is planned then we need to clean it up; we can’t invest in such infrastructures and let them be destroyed,” he said.
The Police Chief went on to detail what has been done by the force in line with environmental protection but also promised that a lot more is to be done in partnership with several stakeholders such as the public, government institutions and international NGO.
During the meeting several stakeholders agreed to enter into a new partnership that would lead to a complete cleaning up of the river.
Police will also work with other concerned agencies in increasing enforcement on illegal and non compliant mining as well as increase its awareness campaigns against environmental degradation, to reach out to a wider audience.
Officials also agreed to protect plants on river banks against early cutting or cattle grazing, putting river banks protection in performance contracts of local authorities, increase afforestation and agroforestry on hillsides around Nyabarongo and its tributaries, and regular monitoring of water quality for progress checking.
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