BIODIVERSITY NETWORKS IN AFRICA: FROM KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TO

TECHNICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION

Charles Kahindo 1, Franck Theeten 2, Patricia Mergen 2, Garin Cael2, Olivier Bakasanda 3, Motonobu Kasajima 3, Patricia Kelbert 4, Jörg Holetscheck 4,Elizabeth Arnaud 5, Dheda Djailo6

  1Université Officielle de Bukavu (UOB), Bukavu, DR Congo2Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Tervuren, Belgium3Centre de Documentation de l’Enseignement Supérieur Universitaire et

de la Recherche de Kinshasa (CEDESURK), Kinshasa, RD Congo4Botanischer Garten und Botanische Museum (BGBM), Berlin, Germany5System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources(SINGER),

Rome, Italy6Kisangani University, Democratic Republic of Congo

DIVERSITY IN AFRICA

PhysicalBiologicalCulturalEconomicalPoliticalSocialLinguisticHistorical

AFRICA SOURCE OF AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND BIODIVERSITY

African farming, a wealth of innovation: Canada’s main export wheat is derived from a Kenyan variety called “Kenyan farmer”; the US and Canada grow barley bred from Ethiopian farmers’ varieties; and the Zera Zera sorghum grown in Texas originated in Ethiopia and the Sudan.

This rich basis of biodiversity still exists in Africa today, thanks to the 80% of farmers in Africa that continue to save seed in a range of diverse eco-systems across the continent.

AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA, VALUE ADDED OUT OF GDP

• Agriculture is the backbone remains one of most economies.

• Major source of income for 80%.

• Up to 50-60% of the total economy in some countries (Guinea-Bissau, Central Africa, Ethiopia) and 20-40% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

FEATURES OF AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

-Lack of a dominant farming system on which food security largely depends;

-Predominance of rainfed agriculture as opposed to irrigated agriculture;

-Heterogeneity and diversity of farming systems and the importance of livestock;

-Key roles of women in agriculture and in ensuring household food security;

-Lack of functioning competitive markets; -Under-investment in agricultural R&D and infrastructure; -Dominance of weathered soils of poor inherent fertility; -Lack of conducive economic and political enabling

environments; -Large and growing impact of human health on agriculture; -Low and stagnant labour productivity and minimal

mechanization; -Predominance of customary land tenure.

SELECTED CHALLENGES

Natural HazardsClimate ChangeInsecurityPopulation GrowthLimited ExpertisePovertyFunding LimitationsPoor Governance

CHALLENGES

POOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGIONAL CONFLICTS

OPPORTUNITIES: DEDICATED STAFF

1

CRSN-Lwiro

RESULTS

Research revitalizedResources and

information sharingPeace and local

developmentCapacities enhancedAwareness raisingSustainable nature

conservation

CABIN INITIATIVE

Central Africa Biodiversity Information Network

Initiated in 2008Aim: to ease access of researchers from

central Africa to biodiversity data published on the internet, as well as the publication of data from local datasets to on-line networks such as GBIF.

Assessed needsOngoing capacity building activities with in

collaboration with CEPDEC (GBIF)

Workflow of Data Publication

Export in CSV document

(‘Comma separated values’)

Desktop source database

(eg. Excel)

1 2 3

GBIF portal

Local computerRegional servers publishing data on the web

Web

4

Internet PublishingToolkit

Or BioCASE provider

Workflow of Data Publication

Local computer

Regional servers publishing data on the web

WebData provider

Data consumer

Infrastructure: requires a certain degree of permanence (which can be relatively achieved by cooperation at institutional level)

User needs: more difficult to formalize-difficulty to reach scientists and base communities potentially interested in on-line information biodiversity and agriculture-dynamical evolution

Workflow of Data Publication

Infrastructure: requires a certain degree of permanence (which can be relatively formalized by cooperation at institutional level)

User needs: more difficult to formalize-difficulty to reach scientists and base communities potentially interested in on-line information biodiversity and agriculture-dynamical evolution in time and space

=> Tasks related to data quality checking provide a platform to gather staff involved in the technical infrastructure, data providers and data consumers. Aim is to progressively “decentralize” these tasks in Central Africa=>need of specific training scheme on data cleaning (e.g: GBIF manuals)

Technical Support for and in Central African Countries

Challenges Lack of a common technical culture shared by biologists

and IT scientists (no IT part in many academic training scheme in biology)

Weakness of infrastructure (slow bandwidth) => but situation may improve rapidly

Academic training scheme may sometimes be « overspecialized »

=> knowledge impediment may occur according to the area of work of scientists

Technical Support for and in Central African Countries

Strengths Good scientific and technical knowledge available Technical infrastructure is improving

Performant satellite connections between Universites in Congo DR (Eb@lé)

New Internet cable connection between Europe and East Africa: Eassy, etc…

Institutions of reference are already ‘open-source’ driven (factor lowering technical ‘insulation’ and obsolescence of technical know how)

Awareness of the need for local and regional synergies at institutional level and self-assess the needs in infrastructure

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

FOCUS ON AGRICUTURAL BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

FOSTER COLLABORATION WITH MAIN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH STATIONS

PILOT PROJECT IN DRC TO INVOLVE 4 UNIVERSITIES AND 4 RESEARCH STATIONS.

PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK SETTING FOR A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM OF SCIENTISTS,POLICY MAKERS

DISSEMINATE KNOWLEDGE AND TOOLS TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

Enhanced Research Capacities in agricultureFunctional NetworkData digitized and made accessibleTools available for lobbying, advocacyReduction of poverty and biodiversity loss

THANK YOU FOR AUDIENCE