SEATTLE, Washington – December 19, 2018 – The JRS Biodiversity Foundation announces a grant award of $80,000, to support the development of the Kenya Biodiversity Atlas. The investment supports JRS’ Capacity Development program to increase access to biodiversity data and knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa.
The pressures upon Africa’s biodiversity make it vital that those who work to conserve biodiversity can access the data describing the status and trends of species and ecosystems. Kenya is home to a wealth of biodiversity; however biodiversity data is scattered across African and ex-African institutions and is difficult to access. A shared information system that serves national, local, and international data needs does not happen overnight. Over the last several years, many partners have worked together to build the Kenya Biodiversity Atlas, but there is an opportunity to technically enhance the online atlas to serve biodiversity data for all stakeholders.
African Conservation Centre – Follow on Support for Kenya Biodiversity Web Portal Project, $ 80,000.
The Biodiversity Atlas of Kenya is an online platform supporting data generated from “Kenya’s Natural Capital – Biodiversity Atlas” (2015) and began in 2014 with an investment by JRS. The platform is open access and supports data acquisition, storage, visualization, and analysis for a variety of uses while maintaining standards to facilitate data exchange and scalability for application in Kenya and East Africa. The new phase of the grant, led by Dr. Lucy Waruingi, will serve to improve the user interface for local stakeholders and researchers, enhance content through data harvesting and linkages to other global portals, and will identify means of sustaining the portal in perpetuity.
About the JRS Biodiversity Foundation – The mission of the JRS Biodiversity Foundation is to increase access to and use of information that will lead to greater biodiversity conservation and more sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 2004, the JRS Biodiversity Foundation supports the capacity of institutions and people who collect, manage, and disseminate biodiversity data in Sub-Saharan Africa. JRS’ grantee partners connect this knowledge to stakeholders who make and influence decisions that are crucial to supporting biodiversity. The foundation has awarded $18M in grants since 2007. Visit us online at https://jrsbiodiversity.org.
About the African Conservation Centre – The African Conservation Centre is a Kenyan non-profit organization dedicated to the development of interdisciplinary knowledge and integrated practices needed to conserve biodiversity in Africa. ACC’s vision is to conserve the diversity of life for the well-being of all people and the environment. ACC began in the 1970s as a Wildlife Conservation Society field research and training center focused on wildlife conservation. In 1995, ACC registered as an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization under its own board of trustees. Learn more at https://www.accafrica.org/.
JRS Contact: Don S. Doering, Executive Director, ddoering@jrsbiodiversity.org, +1 (206) 454-7915
ACC Contact: Lucy Waruingi, Executive Director, lucy.waruingi ‘at sign’ acc.or.ke, +254 724 441677