Rose Mukankomeje

Rose Mukankomeje is a Rwandan politician, biologist, and environmentalist, whose work addresses conservation of Rwandan forests.

Career
Mukankomeje served as a member of the Rwandan parliament from 1995 to 2001.

Mukankomeje served as Director General of the Rwandan Environment Management Authority (REMA). Her work led to a 2011 Future Policy Award for Rwanda’s National Forest Policy, which cited Rwanda's "major reversal in the trend of declining forest cover."

In 2013, Mukankomeje received a Forest Hero Award from the United Nations Forum on Forests. The award cited her development of Umuganda, a monthly community-based tree-planting project, her promotion of sustainable agriculture, and her work on a national plastic bag ban.

In 2019, Mukankomeje was appointed Director General of High Education Council (HEC) in Rwanda.

Personal life
Mukankomeje was studying abroad during the Rwandan genocide, in which her parents and siblings were killed. When she returned to Rwanda, she became a foster parent to 24 children who had lost their families.

Mukankomeje earned a PhD in biology in 1992.

Selected publications

 * Mukankomeje, R., F. Laviolette, and J-P. Descy. Régime alimentaire de Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, du lac Muhazi (Rwanda). Annales de Limnologie-International Journal of Limnology 30.4 (1994).
 * Mukankomeje, R., Plisnier, PD., Descy, JP. et al. Lake Muzahi, Rwanda: limnological features and phytoplankton production. Hydrobiologia 257, 107–120 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005951
 * Mukankomeje, R., Micha, J. C., Descy, J. P., & Frank, V. Potential production of an introduced species (Protopterus aethiopicus Heckel, 1871) based on ecosystem Lake Muhazi (Rwanda) modelling. Mededelingen der Zittingen-Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (1996).