Rwandans have been urged to scale up efforts to conserve natural resources as the world celebrated the biodiversity day. In 1993, the United Nations designated May 22 as an International Day for Biological Diversity in order to increase awareness about the importance of biodiversity to humanity. This year’s theme is ‘Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.’ In an interview with The New Times on Thursday, Dr Marie Christine Gasingirwa, the Director General in charge of Science, Technology and Research at the Ministry of Education, said that everyone has to play a role in biodiversity conservation to ensure sustainable development that the country envisages. “There is no sustainable development if we are depleting the natural resources because one day they will be finished. We all live by plants and animals, so if we let some of them disappear, we are endangering our own future,” she said. “Sustainable development means economic development that minimises depletion of natural resources as much as possible while meeting our current needs so that future generations can meet their needs too. Sustainable development means being careful with what we need to use from the earth, so it will last,” she added. Gasingirwa noted that it is through biodiversity interactions that humans benefit from the environment, for instance through clean water, soil erosion control, pollination of the crops, and wildlife for tourism. “Our life depends on the ecosystem. For example, our country gets foreign exchange from tourists, so it would be a mistake to think that we can destroy vegetation and expect to earn from our tourists attractions like gorillas. It is impossible because gorillas are vegetarian. We need to conserve each and every plant and animal as well as the soil in which plants grow,” she said. Dr Gasingirwa also spoke of the importance of the centre of excellence on biodiversity and management of natural resources. The National Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Biodiversity and Natural Resources Management is a knowledge management centre consisting of a network of local higher learning institutions and research centers, called Nodes. It is coordinated via its Hub at University of Rwanda (Huye Campus). Funded by UNESCO, the Rwf4.5 billion agency will be launched next month, according to Dr Gasingirwa. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
