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.
The records under review include species checklists (with IUCN status, origin, and endemism) and occurrence data that document species distributions across Rwanda. By building this robust system, Rwanda takes an important step toward strengthening biodiversity knowledge and ensuring sustainable management of its natural resources.
“This workshop brings together scientists specializing in diverse taxa to review, clean, and validate Rwanda's biodiversity records. By standardizing these records, we ensure their quality and reliability for critical use. The primary goal is to populate the Rwanda Biodiversity Information System (RBIS) with clean, standardized data. This repository will support policy development and inform decisions for ecosystem management and conservation.”
— Associate Professor Venuste Nsengimana, Director of CoEB
“The records include species checklists (with IUCN status, origin, and endemism) and occurrence data detailing species distribution. This collaborative effort is essential to building a robust national system that accurately reflects Rwanda's biodiversity.”
— Mapendo Mindje, Team Leader of RBIS
Story by Salim Kabano