Author(s)

Prosper Rugomba Mweze^*, Jean-Berckmans Bahananga Muhigwa

Faculty of Sciences, State University of Bukavu (UOB), Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The degradation in Bukavu, a million-inhabitant city in the central East of DR Congo, is a reality. This is linked to natural factors of the environment (geology, climate, geomorphology, plant cover and their combination) coupled with anthropogenic action. This paper is focused on the influence of geology and geomorphology on land instability in Bukavu, as well as the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the phenomenon. Geological methods, observation, photography, social survey, remote sensing and cartography were used. Indeed, Bukavu is distinguished by a rugged relief which is characterized by stages of different altitudes connected by steep escarpments and cut by the waterways, tributaries of Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River, the shoreline of the lake with its gulfs and bays, hills, marshes and valleys with steep slopes and deep gorges.

Bukavu, Urban Environment, Environmental Degradation, Tectonics, Slope

Mweze, P.R. and Muhigwa, J.-B.B. (2022) Degradation of the Urban Environment of the City of Bukavu: Geological and Geomorphological Factors. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-15. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1109174.