African countries have acknowledged failure to achieve Aichi biodiversity targets due to insufficient integration of biodiversity information into decision-making processes for economic transformation. The scientific community must more effectively articulate biodiversity issues to policymakers to make biodiversity a priority in national development agendas. Availability and access to high quality information on biodiversity is essential for effective biodiversity policies. The objective of this study was to explore the potential of biodiversity data mobilization to bring about an ecological data revolution in Rwanda. This greatly depends on the availability of relevant, reliable biodiversity data and its application to critical issues such as food security, invasive species, deforestation, land degradation, disease spread, and water security. Questions included what is the extent of biodiversity data holding within and outside Rwanda and what are the policy relevance areas and strategic values of data mobilization for the country.
Results/Conclusions
To identify policy relevance, we mapped biodiversity data entry points based on existing policies and strategies. We found the majority of biodiversity data records are held outside the country in various institutions. Data from within Rwanda were often only available in hard copy and had to be digitized and cleaned. Some data holders are unwilling to share data. From theses and research reports in Rwanda we found 489 records of plants, 121 records of anurans, 76 fish records, and 138 diatom records. A search of the top 5 herbaria globally yielded about 70,000 plant records from Rwanda. The National Herbarium of Rwanda has 17,000 records all in paper format. Many records were found in GBIF, iNaturalist, and Fishbase. We have put together three externally funded projects to create a community of practice in Rwanda around data mobilization and application to policy and decision-making. We are in the process of developing a data portal and working with stakeholders. We have learned that building a biodiversity information system is as much a social endeavor as it is ecological. We have now mobilized more than 100,000 biodiversity data records. This project represents the first time that Rwanda is bringing together biodiversity data to inform decision-making for sustainable development and green economy goals.