Modelling ecosystem services for Rwanda

Anchor contributed to the update of Rwanda’s 2020 Future Drivers of Growth (FDG) report, which outlines a vision for the country’s development policies. The study addressed gaps relating to climate change and the environment which received limited attention in the previous version. The study considered potential changes in carbon storage, soil retention and habitat quality (or biodiversity) under two future land use scenarios. Projected land cover layers were created by Anchor for the two scenarios, and the differences in the delivery of the three ecosystem services were evaluated. Spatial models were developed to assess the changes in ecosystem services. Carbon retention was assessed using the latest national and global carbon datasets, and the InVEST Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) model and InVEST Habitat Quality model were used to model the soil erosion and sediment control service and changes in habitat quality, respectively.