[01] Sixbert Uwizeyimana, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda. [02] Lamek Nahayo, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda. [03] Vincent Mwine Rubimbura, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda. [04] Aristarque Ngoga, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda. [05] Clemence Idukunda, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda.

The failure to maintain forests in this earth has raised the concerns of deforestation and climate change. It is in this context that this study was conducted in order to assess the extent to which deforestation contributed to climate change in Bugesera District, Eastern Rwanda. This study utilized secondary data on deforestation derived from the land use and land cover maps collected from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Regarding climate change parameters, the authors considered both rainfall and temperature which were collected from the Rwanda Meteorology Agency (RMA). These datasets covered a period of thirty years ranging from 1990 to 2020. The Geographic Information System (GIS) and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) were the mail tools for data collection and analysis. The results showed negative significant relationship between forest cover and maximum temperature with correlation r1=-0.279. However, the analysis indicated positive significant relationship between forest cover and minimum rainfall with r2=0.513; and between maximum temperature and minimum rainfall with r3=0.590 at 0.01 level of significance. This implies that forest cover has a negative effect on temperature and a positive effect on rainfall. The authors believe that the results of this study add more knowledge on the impact of deforestation in leading to climate change from which strategic measures for climate change adaptation can be addressed.

Bugesera District, Climate Change, Rainfall, Temperature, Deforestation, and GIS

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