Last Updated: August 17th, 2020

Postscript

This project, awarded to INBio in 2011, successfully provided training, technical support, advocacy, and technology to their Beninese partner, the Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques de l’Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC) and a partnership that launched significant digitization efforts in Benin. JRS followed the award with a direct grant to UAC in 2014, Implementation of the National Biodiversity Information System (NBIS) of Benin.

Background

Benin, as in many developing countries, has an increasing need to integrate and complement the available biodiversity information necessary to support decision-making on the country’s biodiversity management. With the implementation of this project, Benin will undertake a key step towards the digitization, standardization, integration, and popularization of its biodiversity information.

The technology needed to establish the National Biodiversity Information System of Benin will be implemented using free standards, protocols, and software tools developed by international initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility – GBIF (for instance the Node Portal Toolkit – NPT).  Similarly, the experience and software developed by means of this project will benefit other developing countries.

Key Objectives and Activities

This project aims at enhancing Benin’s national capacity in Biodiversity Informatics through the establishment of a national biodiversity information system (NBIS), which will offer free and open access to integrated biodiversity information as part of the country efforts towards the conservation and sustainable use of its biological resources.

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility of Benin (GBIF Benin), led by Dr. Jean Ganglo, will manage the implemented NBIS and its personnel will be trained as trainers to initiate replication and expansion of the NBIS. As a key output of this project, the herbarium data managed by the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques (University Abomey-Calavi) will be digitized and made available through GBIF and the NBIS.

Planned Outputs

• A functional biodiversity information system for Benin accessible through Internet.
• Information about species and specimens in digital format.
• Improved Internet access and renewed equipment for the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Abomey-Calavi – FSA/UAC.
• Well-trained human capacity for biodiversity information management that will enable the Benin GBIF Node to initiate the project expansion.
• Representatives from the FSA/UAC community trained to use the data portal.
• A technological package available to other institutions and countries.

Planned Outcomes

The long-term vision of this project has the following three strategic pillars:

• Biodiversity information freely and openly shared: The long-term goal is to achieve the digitization, cleaning, and integration of most Beninese biodiversity information available into the national biodiversity data portal, which gives users free and open access to it.  Improving access to data, information, and knowledge will contribute to the advancement of scientific research that will let decision makers and the general public to know more about the biodiversity present in the country and what is happening to it.
• Well-trained human capacity: build capacity at the national level and to maintain and expand the amount of resources (databases) integrated into the data portal by means of promoting the benefits of generating and sharing biodiversity information.
• Generate new information products from the available data:  continue empowering the national community to generate new information products based on the available data and combining information form other sources, for instance data about disasters, energy, climate, water, agriculture, and health, among others.  These new possibilities for combining multiple information sources will allow the country to answer more complex question related with sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.