Threats to Power: Methane Extraction on Lake Kivu, Rwanda

How a dangerous gas becomes a tool of national repair in post-genocide Rwanda.

At the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo sits Lake Kivu, an infamous freshwater lake whose scenic beauty conceals vast stores of methane and carbon dioxide. On its shores, internationally financed companies, in partnership with the Rwandan state, have built the world’s only dissolved-methane-to-electricity project.

In Threats to Power, Kristin Conner Doughty situates these projects within the lo...