Known poetically as the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’ due to its relief, Rwanda is a tiny, landlocked republic lying south of the equator in East-Central Africa (World Bank 2004:20) and lies between (roughly) 1oS and 3oS, and 29oE and 31oE (Central Intelligence Agency: The World Factbook 2002:356). The country is bounded by Lake Kivu and the Rusizi River on the west; on the south by the Ruhwa and Akanyaru Rivers; on the east by the Akagera River; and on the northwest by a chain of volcanoes. Rwanda’s neighbours are Uganda to the north, Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the east and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west and northwest (MINECOFIN 2002:344). It had a population size of 9,6 million in 2008 (PRB 2009:4). The land area is 26 338 square kilometres (World Bank 2004:20) with a high population density of 365 per square kilometre (PRB 2009:4). It is one of the most densely populated countries on the African continent with population pressure on scarce land threatening the physical environment and the social harmony in the country (World Bank 2004:20).
In the last decade of the 20th century almost every Rwandan household was affected by at least one of the following: economic crises, civil war, internal displacement, mass emigration, political transition, returning refugees, destruction of natural resources and most importantly the genocide (Verwimp and Baval 2005:272). Moreover, the environmental degradation caused by the massive population displacements caused vast economic losses to the country. The government made serious efforts to resettle people by making more land available. However, this resulted in biodiversity and natural resources being destroyed. Forests and woodlands came under strain as is evidenced by the reduction in area of the Nyungwe and Akagera National Forests after the