Land Scarcity, Distribution and Conflict in Rwanda

This chapter examines the relationship between land scarcity and conflict in Rwanda. Historically, land pressure has been a severe problem in Rwanda, where over 90% of the population practises agriculture. Land pressure has resulted in declining overall agricultural production, but increasing production for individuals and groups with favourable land and resource access. Cultivation is encroaching into wetlands, national parks and forest reserve areas to satisfy unmet demands for land by some, predominately underprivileged, groups. Large numbers of internally displaced persons have worsened stress in some ecologically sensitive areas, such as in forests, resulting in localised degradation of forest resources.