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Rwanda’s floods have been turbocharged by climate change
Salome Jyambere stands in front of the one remaining wall at his home Photo: Muiru Mbuthia/ Trócaire:
Seasonal rainfall in Rwanda has been getting stronger year-on-year, but Salome Jyambere, a young farmer from Karongi district in Western Provence, never thought floods could destroy his home.
Yet that is exactly what happened one stormy night last year. In fact, the torrent of water that flowed towards his home was so strong, all he could do in the moments before the roof collapsed was save his young children.
The rescue, during which he was assisted by an elderly neighbour, was made even more urgent because one of his children has a physical disability.
” Water streamed down from this road and entered the house on this side, It startled me because my daughter, who has a physical disability, was in the house. While rescuing the children, we managed to save no items from the house. We had a wheelchair that was given to my daughter by donors. The wall fell onto it where it was parked, and it completely damaged the wheelchair. That was shocking. The wheelchair is valued at roughly 600,000 Rwandan francs. We used it to transport her to the hospital.”
For Salome and his family of six, the strength of those rains on that night has been devastating. With their home destroyed, they have been uprooted and forced to move each time that he finds casual labour work,
Today you are here, tomorrow you are there; you work from here today, and tomorrow you work from there
Although that night was the most dramatic upheaval of their life, Salome, who has been farming the land for many years, had already begun to see ominous signs of change in the climate.
Salome stands on his land that has ravaged by floods. Photo: Muiru Mbuthia
Rwanda is densely populated and very small in comparison to neighbouring Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, but it is also historically extremely fertile. With defined rainy and dry seasons, a temperate and subtropical climate, and a varied topography, the ‘land of a thousand hills’, has been ideal for farming.
Cash crops, so called because of their high value on the international market- such as coffee and bananas- can normally be grown in great volume. But the predictability of seasons has begun to change with climate breakdown. And for Rwanda, this means more rain- a lot more of it. For Salome, it means his that crops may grow but not in a way that bears the desired fruit:
When we compare the past and present, it (the change) is clear; you can see that. For example, these banana trees; during rainy season to grow bananas, a banana tree needs both rain and sun. When it only rains, the impact is that the banana tree looks healthy, but it doesn’t produce fruits.
Faustin Vuningoma, coordinator of the Rwanda Climate Change and Development Network, bringing together Rwandan organisations to speak together with one voice. Photo: Muiru Mbuthia
We are not the cause of this climate change challenge. We are not the cause of the greenhouse gas emissions we hear of. We don’t have industries that pollute.
Like Ireland, the excessive rainfall that comes with a changing climate is already posing a grave threat for Rwanda’s agriculture in this similarly green nation. But unlike Ireland, where greenhouse gas emissions are the second highest in the EU, Rwanda’s emissions per person are amongst the lowest in the world. The core injustice of climate breakdown is that so much of the poorest parts of the world- the parts with the lowest emissions- are also the most dependent on rain-fed agriculture and seasonal harvest. That means they are the ones who are suffering first from drought and floods.
Changes to the patterns of the weather have the most devastating consequences for communities who have done least to cause climate change. This cruel irony is not lost on people Salome, who knows that industrialised societies are most responsible for climate change; but somehow, even after everything he has been through, he remains measured in his appeal:
There are many things damaging the climate. For example, industries and different machines. All of these things are happening in developed countries, Africans are the ones having a lot of impact from all of those things. My request is that: all of these countries reduce industries, those things affecting the environment so that we don’t have all of these impacts as African continent.
Heavy rains create tremendous inundation in the Rwandan landscape. Photo: Garry Walsh/ Trócaire
As urgent as climate justice and curbing fossil fuels emissions is, a glance at the speed of water flowing down the hillside in Karonji, it’s force cutting through the soil, demonstrates that there is no time to lose in dealing with the effects of climate change. Fred Rwibasira who works for Duterimbere, a local partner of Trócaire, describes a flood in May of last year that claimed the lives of over 500 people:
Just in this neighbourhood, we had a landslide, and all 14 homes were washed downstream; these are the realities now that climate change is bringing.’
Fred Rwibasira who works for Duterimbere, a local partner of Trócaire. Photo: Muiru Mubuthia/ Trócaire
They may not be caught up in hurricanes or drought, but these rural Rwandan communities are also very evidently being pushed to the precipice of catastrophe by climate change. For that reason, Trócaire have partnered with Fred to implement the Climate Justice Communities programme, with funding from the Scottish Government.
The aim of the programme is to support communities to respond and adapt to the effects of climate change with three core components: immediate humanitarian response assistance, a programme for planting more climate resilient crops, and an ambitious prevention aspect that involves working to slow the course of the water flow, to divert floods from people’s homes and save precious topsoil from being washed away. Salome, alongside other local farmers, is a critical part of this project; as is Jackline Mugoboka, project coordinator with Trócaire, who reminds us of how high the stakes are for local communities:
It’s so hard for them because all their life is agriculture. They depend on agriculture. They don’t have other sources of, of income. So when it rains, the flooding takes all the crops; they are destroyed. And, recently, the houses were destroyed, the animals killed and not to mention the people..
Jackline Mugoboka. Project coordinator, Trócaire Rwanda. Photo: Muiru Mbuthia
Although Jackline and her team are focused on immediate solutions for communities caught in the climate crisis, she knows that this will be a sustained effort- one that will require long term resourcing. For this reason, she believes that keeping the flame alive for climate activism is essential. She has this advice for climate activists in Ireland:
First of all, it’s to thank that person for the great thing, another thing is to just tell her or him that we need funding for climate change effects. The impacts are so real and deep and it has been happening for a couple of years and we don’t see any signs of these things stopping climate change. So I would just tell that person to keep it up, keep that momentum, keep it high and keep it going.
Salome Jyambere, from Kirumbo villiage, Western Rwanda. Photo: Muiru Mbuthia
‘Climate Justice Now’, a photo exhibition that documents the work of climate justice activists around the world is now on display as part of the Belfast Féile at St Mary’s University College, Falls road.
The exhibition is part of Trócaire’s Climate Justice Campaign which is calling for a fast, fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels
