Soil Conservation

Soil conservation is one of the activities that are carried in camps at Kibondo District. This activity is implemented through construction of gabions and contour alignment and excavation. Refugee camps are small areas designated from the host community land for the purpose of offering protection to the refugees and Internal displaced people (IDP). Currently Nduta refugee camp hosts about 100,000 refugees while Mtendeli refugee camp hosts about 40,000 refugees from Burundi. The presence of refugees in these camps with a high population density results in the degradation of the soil. This is due to the movement of people in the small area and human activities such as cultivation and construction of living shelters.

REDESO comes in to mitigate the impacts of soil degradation which ranges from rill erosion, gullies development and large pits formation whichif not mitigated can result into causing disability or death to the Persons of Concern (PoC).

REDESO mitigates soil erosion results through the following activities: –

1. Contour alignment and excavation: A contour is the line joining points of equal height above or below sea level. Along the contour lines the contour bunds are excavatedin areas with steep slope to reduce the speed of run-off water hence control soil erosion. Vegetative materials like elephant grasses, Napier grasses are planted on these contour bunds to increase green water pool hence increase the strength of the contour bunds to withstand soil erosion.
2. Pits back filling: These pits are results of the construction of living shelters using mud bricks. These pits increase protection risks especially to children as during rain season are filled with water. In this light, REDESO mobilizes the community to self- back fill the pits after completion of construction to prevent unnecessary accidents which can be associated with these pits. Refugees are also provided with banana suckers to plant in the back-filled pits to speed up healing rate and at the same time compliment to livelihood and nutrition of the Persons of Concern (PoC).
3. Gabions and check dams construction:
   • Check dam: Is a small barrier constructed in a gully or other small watercourse to decrease flow velocity and promote deposition of sediment. It involves filling empty bags with sand or aggregates to construct the barrier for the run-off water.
   • Gabion: Are rectangular wire mesh or wooden baskets filled with rock that can be placed on slopes and gullies for erosion protection or stacked to create retaining walls in the areas prone to soil erosion.

REDESO constructs gabions and check dams in the areas which have high erodibility rate and have developed large gullies in order to mitigate the effects resulted from the soil erosion to protect the Person of Concern (PoC) and the environment at large.