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Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti, a reporter, says his newspaper regualrly publishes envrionmental stories.<\/p>\n
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By\u00a0Sunny Sun and Liony Xue<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Roboto||||||||” text_text_align=”left” header_font=”||||||||” header_6_font=”Roboto|700|on||||||” header_6_font_size=”12px”]<\/p>\n Rwanda seems to have hit upon a win-win model for economic growth: conserve wildlife and nature to bring in the tourist dollars.<\/p>\n So far it\u2019s working. Rwanda is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.<\/p>\n In 2017, tourism brought in US$438 million<\/a> (HK$34 billion), much of that paid in permits to visit the country\u2019s mountain gorillas and spent on services for other nature tourism. \u00a0<\/p>\n Mainly an agricultural nation, tourism contributes to 12.7 % of the country\u2019s GDP, according to the Telegraph.<\/a><\/p>\n The 1994 genocide devasted lands and local wildlife. The mountain gorillas\u2019 habitat in the Volcanos National Park was a battle ground. Forests were cleared for firewood. Refugees living in what is today\u2019s Akagare National Park killed all the lions to protect their cows.<\/p>\n But today, ecologically protected areas are conducive to the restoration of forests, the repopulation of animals and the conservation of their habitat. Lions have been reintroduced to Akagare and now there are more than 20. \u00a0The mountain gorilla population is the highest it has been since the 1960s.<\/p>\n Anyone who illegally cuts trees in protected areas can be imprisoned up to two years or fined up to 2 million francs (HK$ 17,317), according to The New Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n About 10 percent of tourism revenue goes back into the community to support parks, schools, hospitals, hotels, roads, artists and farmers, the chief executive officer of the Rwanda Development Board said at a conference last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rwandareports.hkbujournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mugugu-300x200.png\")
\u201cAs for Virunga National Park, 30% of we made from tourism all go to the community, \u201d said Mugugu Mungarulire, a local tour guide. He also said after seeing the development, people are more willing to move from the forests to other areas.<\/p>\n
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Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti, a reporter at the New Times, the largest English newspaper in Rwanda, said they publish numerous environmental stories every week.<\/p>\n