Rwanda's natural resources management project provides a prototype methodology for environmental management in developing African countries. It includes data for 143 communes on agricultural production, crop acreage, nutritional composition, and livestock ownership, aggregated to the prefecture level. The project was developed by Michigan State University with data from the Government of Rwanda and donor agencies, culminating in findings from the early 1990s.
Use Cases
- Assessing the relationship between population pressure and land degradation based on the project's stated research focus.
- Determining optimal data sets for environmental management based on the project's key guiding questions.
- Integrating physical and socioeconomic data in a GIS for NRM policy analysis as described in the project goal.
- Analyzing longitudinal trends in agricultural production and livestock ownership using commune-level data from the early 1990s.
Strengths
- Data covers 143 communes, providing sub-national granularity.
- Includes longitudinal data from the 1978 and 1991 censuses.
- Described as one of the most comprehensive data sets in sub-Saharan Africa by the early 1990s.
Limitations
- Last updated 1994-01-01 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Michigan State University, Government of Rwanda, USAID, Belgian Technical Cooperation
- Collection Method
- Collaborative program of training, research, and analysis; data collection supported by donor agencies.
- Time Range
- Includes data from the 1978 and 1991 censuses, culminating in early 1990s findings.
- Freshness
- 1994-01-01 23:59:59.999000
- Geography
- Rwanda, with a focus on 143 communes aggregated to the prefecture level.