CoEB NEWS

Strengthening Rwanda’s Biodiversity Records through Collaborative Workshop

The Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (CoEB) hosted a workshop that brought together scientists specializing in diverse taxa to review, clean, and validate Rwanda’s biodiversity records.

The initiative focuses on standardizing data collected from both within and outside the country to ensure accuracy, consistency, and reliability. These efforts are crucial for populating the Rwanda Biodiversity Information System (RBIS) a national repository that will guide policy development, ecosystem management, and long-term conservation planning.

Soil assessment in savannas and forest Eastern Rwanda Restored using EbA approach

"The concept of soil quality was developed to describe the capacity of soil to perform ecosystem functions properly. Nowadays, soilquality is affected by climate change effects. To remediate the problem, the ecosystem-based adaptation approach (EbA) wasinitiated to restore degraded ecosystems. In Rwanda, the approach was initiated in 2016 to restore degraded wetlands, savannas,and forests. However, nothing is known about how the restoration improved soil quality.

Biodiversity of Kanyeganyege and Gishanda, Eastern Province of Rwanda

"This biodiversity assessment was conducted in March–April 2025 to evaluate the ecological status of the Kanyeganyege and Gishanda wetlands located in Kayonza District, Eastern Rwanda, and to inform the development of proposed irrigation systems. Using line transects and quadrats, the study recorded 183 plant species across 59 families dominated by herbaceous plants. Native species made up over 75% of the vegetation, with few invasive species found. Gishanda exhibited higher species richness and presence of unique taxa compared to Kanyeganyege.

Bio Assessment of Mukura Forest Reserve, Western Rwanda

"Mukura Forestis a biodiversity hotspot within the Albertine Rift essential forbiodiversity conservation, climate regulation, and provision of water resources. Despite its importance, a comprehensive biodiversity assessment was lacking. This study surveyed plants, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, terrestrial arthropods, butterflies, water macroinvertebrates, and diatoms across 20 sites in December 2025. Results recorded 1,523 individuals of water macroinvertebrates and 25 diatom species, highlighting minimal anthropogenic disturbance of water in Mukura Forest.

RBS TEAM TO RAISE AWARENESS THROUGH THE MEDIA

The Team developing the Rwanda Biodiversity Information system (RBIS) was hosted at Rwanda Broadcasting Agency on Sunday 17th October 2021.

Mapendo Mindje , Cyuzuzo Deborah,Prof.Elias Bizuru explaining the importance of RBIS. This is one of the CoEB's flagship projects - making #biodiversity data accessible for policy, management & early detection of environmental change.

Here there is a link for the talkshow!  https://www.rba.co.rw/tv

Why should we have to care about the loss of biodiversity?

 

International Day for Biological Diversity 2021 brought another topic to think about. 2020-2021, conflicts between human beings and animals occurred than other previous years in Huye district. It’s an area where vervet monkeys located. People who live near by the arboretum Ruhande forest claimed a lot that vervet monkeys come and damage their crops. The solution they get is to kill them.

Justice for Peace through Traditional Knowledge Systems and Conservation: Recognition, Revitalization and Reconciliation

Workshop participants

Workshop participants

On 31 August 2020, the University of Rwanda (UR) joined the African Institute for Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIIKS) with the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (CoEB) as the focal point. The AIIKS is established at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

A Virtual Summer Course Looking at Global Climate Change with Partners in USA

The Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, USA and the University of Rwanda's Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (UR- CoEB) at the College of Science and Technology partner to bring together American and Rwandan Master's students for a fully immersive virtual study-abroad program called Climate Policy: A Global, Transdisciplinary Approach for the Future.