Flooding and landslides in the Rusizi River and Lake Kivu basins could soon be minimised under a $3 million project to strengthen resilience to climate change.
"The project will help the government in its plan to protect rivers and lakes, plant trees, construct terraces, control soil erosion and other practices. The mobilised resources will restore degraded landscape in Rusizi and Karongi districts. This will reduce degradation of soil that is washed away into rivers and lakes that have environmental and economic importance," she explained.
The degradation of the water bodies' basins has been polluting and flooding River Rusizi with soil erosion and landslides, despite the river being used to generate electricity for the three countries. The Bezos Earth Fund, set to finance the landscapes restoration, was created by a commitment of $10 billion from American-entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, to be disbursed as grants within a 10-year period to among others fight climate change and protect nature.