‘Ten years ago, this whole neighbourhood was spared flooding, but now, every rainy season, our feet are in the water,’ says Jacques Nzamba Ndezambou, a resident of the Boulevard Akayé neighbourhood in Libreville’s second arrondissement. In November 2024, torrential rains submerged several districts of the Gabonese capital, causing extensive material damage and the temporary eviction of hundreds of people. ‘The water came suddenly, surging up from both the ground and the river. We didn’t even have time to save a few things. Personally, I lost my freezer, some books, a mattress… It was impossible to carry everything on my own. The flood was almost a metre high, it was catastrophic’.
Field video https://youtu.be/pO77sCWukWA
In Cameroon, the situation is just as alarming. On 8 October 2023, at 7.20pm, a poorly maintained dyke gave way on the slopes of Mont Mbankolo in Yaoundé, sweeping away everything in its path. The official toll was 34 dead, dozens of houses destroyed and inestimable material losses. Nlomo, a local resident, remembers it like it was yesterday. ‘Some of the bodies were found more than a kilometre away. The waters also washed away refrigerators and gas bottles… It was an apocalyptic sight. After in-depth analysis, it appears that this disaster, caused by a poorly maintained dyke, could have been avoided. The gradual destruction of the urban forest around Mont Mbankolo, is thus singled out for criticism.
Video : Cendrine Kayap, CUY
The tragedy of Mbankolo in Yaoundé could just as easily happen in Rwanda, where the mountains around the capital Kigali are being eaten away by the forest cover. Here, accelerated urbanisation is threatening hills that were once covered in trees, increasing soil instability. The hills of Jali, Kigali and Rebero, once covered in trees, are being replaced by housing, increasing erosion and run-off. ‘Every house built means trees felled’, explains Abias Maniragaba, an expert in environmental economics at the Lay Adventists University in Kigali (UNILAK).
Accelerated disappearance of urban forest cover
Remcel Dumont Fopi Tazo, GIS consultant at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Cameroon, has compiled and interpreted figures and satellite data to show that a veritable war is being waged in African cities between concrete and nature. In Yaoundé, 41% of the vegetation cover has been cleared in the last 22 years. While Libreville in Gabon and Kigali in Rwanda have lost 23% and 14% respectively of their urban forests over the same period, 2001-2023.
Experts warn of the dangers
Specialists agree that the disappearance of urban forests has a disastrous domino effect. ‘Trees absorb rainwater and stabilise the soil. When they disappear, the water runs off faster and causes flooding’, explains Cameroonian geographer Lionel Djibie Kaptchouan. For his part, Rwandan researcher Aimable Musoni points out that urban vegetation plays a key role in regulating the local climate: ‘Without trees, cities become heat islands, and that has a direct impact on people’s health’.
The disappearance of urban forests is also having an impact on air quality. ‘In 2023, Kigali recorded 471,171 cases of respiratory disease, or 9% of cases nationwide,’ says Emmanuel Sibomana of the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. In 2012, more than 2,200 deaths from respiratory diseases were recorded, 22% of them in children under 5. By 2019, this figure had risen to 9,286 deaths.
What can be done to reverse the trend?
While the situation seems critical, initiatives are beginning to emerge. In Kigali, an ambitious urban reforestation programme has recovered several hectares of lost forest. In collaboration with local organisations, the SUNCASA project is rehabilitating critical micro-basins in the Nyabarongo river basin through agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation. In addition, vegetated buffer zones will be created to stabilise ravines and protect high-risk households while controlling encroachment.
Since 2023, Libreville has been experimenting with a project of ecological corridors to reconnect its remaining forests, while in Yaoundé, several associations are campaigning for the application of a law prohibiting the destruction of urban trees without compensatory replanting. To mark World Climate Day on 8 December 2024, the Association pour les Actions Durables (Association for Sustainable Action) organised a reforestation activity at Bois Saint-Anastasie, in partnership with the Yaoundé Urban Community. Members of the association, mobilised for the event, planted several trees in this strategic area, in the hope of contributing to the regeneration of the local ecosystem and reducing the effects of deforestation.
Boris Ngounou and Michel Nkurunziza with the support of the Pulitzer Center
