Biodiversity and ecological services support Rwanda’s agriculture and energy sectors, as well as contribute directly through nature-based tourism. The Mukungwa catchment in northern Rwanda is particularly important, providing hydroelectricity, mitigation of heavy rainfall events, threatened and endemic species habitat, and other important ecosystem services. However, increased flooding, erosion, and other effects of climate change are already being realized across Rwanda’s mountainous terrain. These impacts coupled with high population density, agricultural intensification, and reliance on hydropower places ecosystem function at risk and bodes difficulty for Rwanda achieving its goal of becoming a lower middle-income economy. There is a clear need for freshwater biodiversity information to guide sustainable development decisions, but no system exists to effectively mobilize data for decision-makers. Information is scattered, incomplete, and there is no nationally accepted data portal for biodiversity information.

The Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (CoEB), hosted at the University of Rwanda, aims to develop a Rwandan Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (RBIS) to support decision-making for conservation and sustainable use of Rwanda’s freshwater resources, with a focus on the Mukungwa catchment. The RBIS will be a modified version of the Freshwater Research Center’s Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS), tailored to the needs of Rwandan stakeholders. CoEB spent the first half of 2019 planning the RBIS’ implementation under a JRS-funded planning grant, and this project builds on the research and partnerships developed during this key planning phase, as well other JRS investments in Rwanda.

1. Evaluate the status of biodiversity information data and data needs related to the Mukungwa watershed, Rwanda from data providers/stakeholders in Rwanda and Ex-African institutions.
2. Two Meetings with data providers, technical partners, and other stakeholders including researchers, policy and decision makers and final national workshop
3. Establish consensus and agreement on the format, structure and role of the biodiversity information system for Rwanda, focused on Mukungwa watershed
4. Develop technical capacity through trainings and working closely with experts to develop the technical mechanisms for the information system.

With COVID-19 restricting travel and meeting with our grantees, JRS invited our projects to submit a short update for the JRS Board of Trustees. Though intended for an internal JRS audience, we loved these videos and share them here with permission. Enjoy!

1. Cultivate partnerships to create sustainable connections between data providers and data end-users.
2. Train a technical team comprised of ten IT professionals and data technicians to establish and maintain the RBIS.
3. Meet with stakeholders regularly and thoroughly test all components of the RBIS with stakeholders in order to gather feedback and refine the platform prior to official launch.
4. Launch the RBIS base platform and three thematic modules.
5. Obtain official endorsement and commitment from the Government of Rwanda to support RBIS maintenance and upgrades.
6. Hire a permanent RBIS manager at the conclusion of the project.

The RBIS will launch in close partnership with stakeholders and the Government of Rwanda and provide key end-user institutions with a platform that can respond to their specific needs. It is expected that at least 80% of trained end-users will be using the system and at least five data products will be developed to support national policies using data from the RBIS by the end of this 36-month project. This system is built to provide solutions for both scientists and policy makers, with functionality that addresses the need for data accessibility, as well as ready-to-use information. CoEB intends to extend this system to all of Rwanda to aid in meeting economic transformation and sustainable development goals.

The UR CoEB has completed the planning phase for this effort during which the following results were achieved:

• The mapping of data providers and end-users has been conducted and the needs and expectations of the RBIS have been inventoried and recorded.
• Existing data within the national institutions and from international data providers has been assessed.
• Capacity building needs have been documented and taken into account in the development of the full grant proposal.
• Partners including Kartoza, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Royal Museum for Central Africa, the botanical garden of Belgium, and Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) have been contacted to help in the building of the RBIS.

Prof Elias Bizuru is a botanist and has been a Lecturer at University of Rwanda (UR) since 2008. He is currently the Director of Research and Innovation at UR’s College of Science and Technology. Prof Bizuru established the local NGO Burundi Nature Action and facilitated registering the Malagarazi Nature Reserve as a Ramsar site. He now pursues his efforts in biodiversity conservation through CoEB and served as the Project Director for the planning phase of this project.

Prof Beth Kaplin is an ecologist and conservation biologist and has been the Director of CoEB since 2016. She directed the Rwandan team during the JRS-funded African Biodiversity Challenge to mobilize freshwater biodiversity data in Rwanda and currently oversees a project to upgrade and digitize the National Herbarium of Rwanda.

JRS is pleased to follow upon our planning grant with a grant to implement the freshwater biodiversity information system for Rwanda.  Several complementary investments by JRS in projects with GBIF, SANBI, and the University of Oxford have all created conditions for this project’s success in Rwanda.  Challenges remain as the project partners seek to modify the South African data portal design to serve local needs and to have local ownership and capacity for maintenance and development.  Our hope is that the system has potential to expand in its value to the Rwandan people by expansion to other catchments and expansion to include important terrestrial biodiversity.