Regional academicians and researchers in the biodiversity field have joined hands to carry out relevant and accurate research that would enable informed decision making and policy formulation.

The move comes amid growing concerns that biodiversity could be affected as long as people use natural resources without taking into account ways to ensure their sustainability.

The development was announced on Tuesday in Huye District during a five-day meeting for the Annual Regional Network for Conservation Educators in the Albertine Rift (RNCEAR).

The workshop was held under the theme; ‘Enhancing Community Based and Institutional Partnership for Biodiversity Conservation Excellence at the Country Level.’

Marie Christine Gasingirwa, the director general for Science, Technology and Research at the Ministry of Education, said the demographic pressure was resulting in deforestation in search for farmland threatening various spicies and therefore ecosystem.

"People continue to increase but natural resources never increase. The situation calls for efficient ways to use the available resources and protect them,” she said adding that the community should be educated on the advantages of safeguarding biodiversity.

Prof. Beth Kaplin, the technical advisor at RNCEAR, said the major threat to biodiversity in the region was lack of capacity to carry out research and properly manage the biodiversity.

"We want to focus on empowering and building capacities among universities and research institutions in the region to carry out studies for informed policymaking,” she said, stressing the need to include indigenous knowledge in policymaking, because it was from indigenous people, like farmers, who know how a crop responds to the type of soil in their area.

She reiterated the importance of diversity to human beings as they rely on it to fulfill their needs, including clean water.

RNCEAR operates in five countries including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania.

It is a network of instructors, practitioners, and researchers working in environmental and conservation science at academic, research and non-governmental institutions in the Albertine Rift.

The workshop was jointly organised by RNCEAR and the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology.

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