Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Nov 16 2009 | By: Julie

According to Rwanda’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, almost 20 million trees - both forest species and agroforest species - will be planted this week throughout the country. This morning, AoC’s Eric, Innocent, Valerie, and I loaded the truck with seedlings from the AoC garden and headed to Kinigi to meet our students and plant trees.

Earlier this year, our students planted seedlings outside of their school. Please view earlier post.

Minister Kamanzi is at Gishwati Forest today where efforts are being made to recover lost forest due to human encroachment, deforestation and small-scale farming.

Planting more trees with the help from my dog, Ibyiza.

Rwanda will be attending the Copenhagen Summit for Climate Change in December.

We’re finished for the day with 100 additional seedlings in the ground.

More from Mr. Kamanzi at AllAfrica.com.

Tags: Art of Conservation, Gishwati Area Conservation Program, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, planting trees, rwanda

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Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), Rwanda's Park & Tourism | Date: May 05 2009 | By: Julie

As part of AoC’s efforts to teach the children living around Parc National des Volcans about conservation, each of our 150 students planted a seedling in groves around their schools. The seedlings aren’t meant to be food for wild animals that live in the park. Instead, they’ll be used primarily for soil conservation. Soil erosion is a big problem in hilly Rwanda, where nearly every available slope has been cultivated for agriculture. Once the students’ trees mature - which won’t take long in this wet, equatorial climate - their roots will act to hold the soil in place. They’ll also provide habitat for birds and insects like bees, which provide honey the communities can harvest to feed their families.

Below is a video made during our tree planting week set to the tune of “Sow A Little,” by New York-based musicians KaiserCartel. This is a commissioned piece made for our project. Enjoy!

Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.

The beginning of a little forest. Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.

Celebrating the hard work. Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.

Tags: children, conservation, gorillas, local community, planting trees

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