Biodiversity Information for Development (BID)
Regional Engagement Webinar for Africa
Thursday 11 June 2020 10:00 am GMT+2, 2 hour Zoom webinar
Registration required:https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rEhzS7puSby_qENK-Ht8Kw
Presentations will be in English. Translated copies of the slides will be available in French
and Portuguese. Participants can ask questions in English, French and Portuguese.

AgendaWelcome messages
Tanya Abrahamse, GBIF Governing Board Chair, Joe Miller, GBIF Executive Secretary, andChantal Marijnissen, Head of Unit DEVCO.C2 – Environment, Natural Resources, Water,
European Commission

Session 1 – Introduction to GBIF and the BID programme
Tim Hirsch, Deputy Director, GBIF Secretariat

Session 2 – GBIF Participation in the Africa region
Jean Cossi Ganglo, GBIF Africa Regional Representative

Session 3 – GBIF Zimbabwe’s experience through the GBIF capacity enhancement
support programme
Luke Jimu, GBIF Zimbabwe Node Manager

Session 4 – Short talks from BID project teams
Lucilia Chuquela - Natural History Museum of the Eduardo Mondlane University,
Mozambique - Project representative of the African Insect AtlasDavid Elizalde Casteils, Data Manager, Sasscal, Angola, Project coordinator - Strengthening
the institutional network in Angola to mobilize biodiversity data

Drissa Coulibaly - University Nangui Abrogoua, Côte d'Ivoire - Project Coordinator Extension and management of the reference collections of bee pollinators in West Africa

Session 5 – Panel session
Chair: Tim Hirsch; Panel: Jean Cossi Ganglo, Pierre Raoufou Radji, Andrew Rodrigues,
Maheva Bagard Laursen, Mélianie RaymondSession 6: How to stay engaged in GBIF and BID in the future
Mélianie Raymond, GBIF Secretariat
The BID programme is funded by theEuropean Union and co-funded by GBIF

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Introduction to GBIF and the
Biodiversity Information for
Development (BID) programme
Tim Hirsch | Deputy Director

Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) Regional Engagement Webinar for Africa | 11 June 2020

WHAT IS GBIF?
Intergovernmental
network and research
infrastructure
Provides anyone,
anywhere, open accessto data about all types oflife on EarthCollaboration throughvoluntary Memorandumof Understanding,Participant nodes

A MULTILINGUAL RESOURCEA WINDOW ON EVIDENCE ABOUT WHERE SPECIES LIVED, AND WHEN
Data from:-Natural history collections
Research studies
Monitoring programmes
Citizens’ observations
Literature
DNA sampling
Others…

Shared using common data standards to enable fullinteroperability and instant retrieval

https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search

APPLIED USES OF GBIF-MEDIATED DATA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Conservation

Food Security

Climate change

Human health-Protected areas-

Crop wild relatives--

Threatened species--

Invasive species risk

In situ, ex situ
conservation ofgenetic diversity

Modelling impacts on
species ranges-

Adaptation strategies- Disease risk based on
occurrence of vectors,
hosts, reservoirs-

Mitigation beneﬁts,
risks

-

https://www.gbif.org/science-review

Fisheries planning- Medicinal plants- Hazards e.g. snakebite

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS USING GBIF-MEDIATED DATA 30 Apr 2020

https://www.gbif.org/resource/search?contentType=literature&literatureType=journal&relevance=GBIF_USED&peerReview=true

DATA USE IN AFRICA

https://doi.org/10.19182/bft2017.332.a31332 ;https://www.gbif.org/resource/search?contentType=dataUse&countriesOfCoverage=ZA&countriesOfCoverage=BJ

GBIF IN AFRICA

https://www.gbif.org/the-gbif-network/africa

CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT IN GBIF
• Annual call funded from GBIF core budget• Exclusive to GBIF participating nodes• Aims to address needs identiﬁed by GBIF
Participants, facilitates knowledge transfer andcollaboration at regional and global levels• Supports mentoring, regional events, advocacy,
documentation, promotion of data use• 12 projects supporting African nodes since2014, €147k grant funds with €150k co-funding

https://www.gbif.org/programme/82219/capacity-enhancement-support-programme

BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION FOR DEVELOPMENT (BID) PROGRAMME
Overall objective: Improved management of natural capital for human well-being;
through increased application of biodiversity information as evidence for decision making• Initial €3,9 million grant under the EuropeAid Biodiversity for Life (B4Life) flagship umbrella programme, €1m in-kind
contribution from GBIF
• First phase 2015-2019: Funded 63 projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries• Regional capacity enhancement workshops trained project teams in biodiversity data mobilization and use• Extension agreed to 2023, €1.6m budget top-up

https://www.gbif.org/programme/82243/bid-biodiversity-information-for-development

BID IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: FIRST-PHASE OUTCOMES

https://www.gbif.org/programme/82243/bid-biodiversity-information-for-development• 50 funded projects covering 27 African countries• 354 datasets published in GBIF.org, 67 new data
publishers• 10 new GBIF participant countries in Africa• Growing community of practice in biodiversity
informatics• Mentoring and training involving global GBIF
community

BID IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: FIRST-PHASE OUTCOMES• 321% increase in species occurrence records from target countries• More than 80,000 different species, of which 27% were ﬁrst records in GBIF for a country• Over 2,000 distinct scientiﬁc names reported for the ﬁrst time in GBIF
• Data on 1,100 threatened species, of which 22 were ﬁrst records in GBIF

https://www.gbif.org/programme/82243/bid-biodiversity-information-for-development

BID IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: COLLABORATION AND JOINT FUNDING• Capacity enhancement workshops for all funded
projects• Curricula developed in biodiversity data mobilizationand data use for decision making• Volunteer mentors from global community• Trainees from ﬁrst African projects became mentors forlater projects!
• Workshops held jointly with complementary projects in
Africa, e.g. Africa Biodiversity Challenge (SANBI/JRS),
Connect (UNEP-WCMC/GEF), enabling eﬃciencies offunding

https://www.gbif.org/programme/82243/bid-biodiversity-information-for-development

BID IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: SECOND-PHASE PLANS• Call for proposals launched 10
June 2020• Eligibility for all sub-SaharanAfrica, apart from South Africa• Approximately €600,000
available for grants• Implementation April
2021-March 2023

https://www.gbif.org/article/6YMaBaQKPDDfBSGTO6jvg5/bid-call-for-proposals-sub-saharan-africa-2020

BID IN THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: SECOND-PHASE PLANS
Four grant types:• Regional data mobilization grant: establishing or strengthening international
collaborations to increase biodiversity data mobilization addressing regionalsustainable development needs• Funding limit: €120,000 (3 or more countries); €60,000 (2 countries)• National data mobilization grant: establishing or strengthening national biodiversity
information facilities and increasing biodiversity data mobilization to respond tonational priorities• Funding limit: €40,000• Institution-level data mobilization grant: mobilizing data relevant for sustainable
development• Funding limit: €20,000• Data-use grant: building on existing relationships between biodiversity data-holding
institutions and decision makers, and providing data solutions that respond to a
speciﬁc policy need
• Funding limit: €60,000

https://www.gbif.org/article/6YMaBaQKPDDfBSGTO6jvg5/bid-call-for-proposals-sub-saharan-africa-2020

BID IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: SECOND-PHASE PLANS

Timetable:• 10 June 2020: Call for concept notes• 27 August 2020: Deadline for submitting concept notes• Last-quarter 2020: Invitation to submit full proposals (2 months)• April 2021 – March 2023: Implementation of projects• Second-quarter 2021: Capacity enhancement workshop for Africa

https://www.gbif.org/article/6YMaBaQKPDDfBSGTO6jvg5/bid-call-for-proposals-sub-saharan-africa-2020

THANK YOU
Tim Hirsch
thirsch@gbif.org

www.gbif.org

ACM meetingin South Africa

Planning meeting in Kenya(Identification of an Action Plan)

1st Regional meetingin Uganda

2nd Regional meetingin South Africa

GB 16

3rd Regional meeting
Rwanda ARCOS

4th Regional meeting
In South Africa

5th Regional meeting
In BeninAfrica Rising
In South Africa

6th Regional meeting
In South Africa

7th Regional meeting,
Dar Es Salaam, TanzaniaExperiences from GBIF Zimbabwe:from joining the GBIF family to the
CESP project with GBIF Spain
Luke Jimu

Zimbabwe joins the GBIF
family●●●●I would want to call this experience,‘Beyond the BID project, the birth of GBIF
Zimbabwe’ .
When we saw the call for the BID projectin 2017, we gave it a try and applied.
We were awarded the grant to mobilise
data on wild plants of medicinal andfood importance in Zimbabwe.
During one of the BID workshops, theidea to join GBIF was discussed andZimbabwe joined GBIF in May of 2018.

GBIF Zimbabwe awarded a
CESP grant

●

●

●

GBIF Zimbabwe and GBIF Spainstarted working together under theunder the Node Mentoring
Programme.
This was followed by the joint
application for the CESP funding,awarded in 2019.
Project title: Strengthening
Zimbabwe’s GBIF node throughcollaboration with GBIF Spain.

Project activities/ deliverables
1. Online activities:●●●●

IPT for GBIF Zimbabwe
Website for GBIF Zimbabwe
Twitter accountStrategic Plan for GBIF Zimbabwe

2. Training workshops:●●●

Training of two staff GBIF Zimbabwe in
MadridTraining of 29 participants in data
mobilisation
Training of 46 researchers and students indata access and use

Sustainability plans●●

GBIF Zimbabwe will continue to workwith GBIF Spain in critical areas e.g.
citizen science, Living Atlases anddata use software e.g. ecologicalniche modelling and R.
apply for joint proposals aimed at
improving data mobilisation and use
in both nodes.

Plans for the next 5 years●●●

Increase the number of data
publishers (at least 20) and users (atleast 100 papers).
Increase occurrence data mobilised
to at least 1000 000 in the next 5
years.
Diversify the data sources to include
e.g. EIA reports, students’ projects,
and citizen science.

Thank youAfrican Insect Atlas
Madagascar , Kenya , Mozambique, Botswana ,Zimbabwe and South Africa, Lucilia Chuquela,
Natural History Museum-Moz

Project objectives

African Insects Atlas : Unleashing the potential of Insects inConservation and Sustainability in Africa

Action done

Regional Workshop, standardized
protocol, different trainings on
Biodiversity data mobilization,
Digitalization and Databasemanagement system
MS excel or Specify
70.346 records By September 2016,
Now 93.119 records

Project impacts

The data from Insects eachcountry more accessible andpublished through GBIF.org
Capacity building in data holding
institutions

Best practices & lessons
learnedLack of Skills to work on computer;
Most of specimens don’t havecoordination;
Most of specimen hold in Museum
are fragile and needs soft hand tomanipulate;
Published Data on Ipt waschallenges for most consortium ,regional workshop and host datafor others.

ANGOLA - STRENGTHENINGDATA SHARING NETWORKDavid Elizalde | (ex) SASSCALProject objectives

A FIRST CONTACT WITH GBIF●Engage/register institutions●

Capacity building●

Digitize NH collections●

Publish ﬁrst country datasets

Main activities and results

●

●
●
●

6 Institutions reached in 7
Trainings/workshops in: Natural
history collections digitization,
herbarium and entomology
collections handling, data curation,
georreferenciation, data mobilization
5 registered and 2 publishinginstitutions
4 datasets and 48,373 records
published
1 National Workshop

Project impacts

●

●
●
●

Data gaps detected byenvironmental government
agencies
Updated country checklists (i.e.
Odonata)
Network of data holding
institutions
Angola as an Associate GBIF
member in early 2019

Best practices & lessons
learned

●
●

●

●
●

Break the data sharing fear
Engage a key institution, others will
follow
Rely on other countries experienceand support (BID workshops!)
Train, train, train = Motivation
Lookout for the experienced
people in countryProject title:
Extension and management of thereference collections of bee
pollinators in West Africa (Burkina
Faso and Côte d’Ivoire).
DR. COULIBALY DRISSA
University, Côte d’Ivoire

This programme is fundedby the European Union

Project objectives

●
●

●
●

Facilitate data digitization anddata mobilization;
Extend the current referencecollection of West Africa bees
(Côte d´Ivoire, Burkina Faso);
Use the reference collection forstudents training and education;
Share research ﬁndings with
policy makers and data users.

Main activities and results

➢
➢

➢

➢
➢

Sorting, pinning and identiﬁcationof bees (More than 100 species);
Data digitization and data
publishing on gbif portal (checklist,
occurrence and sampling event);
Participation to the two workshops
organized by gbif in Cape Town
(knowledges data mobilization anddata use);
Dissemination of knowledges;
Students training (Master thesis).

Project impacts

The high mobilization of bee dataaroused real enthusiasm among
learners. Many students used alreadythe bees reference collection as part oftheir Master thesis. The knowledges onbees has evolved and the ecosystemservices study (e.g. pollination) is still
possible in agricultural regions. Policy
makers and data users (farmers,
students, scientists…) have a goodunderstanding of bee importance.

Best practices & lessons
learned- Rigorous respect of planned activities
schedule has been an important factor
to achieve project objectives;- Regular contact with the mentors hashelped to build our capacity;- Self-assessment has been an
essential tool for effective and eﬃcientmanagement of our project;- Development of links with otherproject leaders is still an goodexperience to be taken advantage of.

Staying engaged in GBIF and BID
Mélianie Raymond GBIF Secretariat

WHAT’S NEXT?

BID call for proposals• June call for Africa
region• Videos andwebinars to support
application process

GBIF community
webinars• Regular updates on
GBIF activities
targeting nodes andpublishers

The BID programme is funded by the European Union and co-funded by GBIF

GBIF Capacity
Enhancement Support
Programme• 2020 projects startin August• Next call announcedin December

GBIF representation at
CBD events• BID-related side
eventsWHAT’S NEXT?

GBIF 2021 regional
meetings• In-person meetingfor Africa in Togo?

BID Capacity
Enhancement
workshops 2021
• Data mobilizationand data use• Community mentors

The BID programme is funded by the European Union and co-funded by GBIF

Regional data
publishing support• Contact
helpdesk@gbif.org

Become a GBIF
Participant country ororganization• www.gbif.org/
become-member• Contact
thirsch@gbif.org

STAY IN TOUCH!
• gbif.org/newsletters• BID community
mailing list
• Twitter @GBIF• Contacts for nodes andSecretariat on GBIF.org

www.gbif.org/newsletters

THANK YOU
mraymond@gbif.org

www.gbif.org