The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, GBIF, has launched surveys for data holders and data users in Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific region countries to improve the application of biodiversity data to policy. This effort will support the GBIF-led Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) project, funded by the European Union with the aim of facilitating the incorporation of biodiversity information in development policy-making throughout all of the ACP nations. Results from the surveys will inform discussions about barriers to sharing data and what can be done to increase the usability of data provided by researchers with a specific focus on regional issues in Africa. Similar conferences will be held in the Caribbean and Pacific in 2016.

BID officially launches this month at Africa Rising: Mobilizing Biodiversity Data for Sustainable Development, in Cape Town, South Africa, a conference supported by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, EU, SANBI and USAID and hosted by JRS Grantee the South African National Biodiversity Institute (read more about the conference here).  JRS supports the Africa Rising conference as an activity of our 2012 grant to SANBI for Mobilizing Africa’s Biodiversity Data.

Two surveys, one for groups and individuals generating data, and one for policy-makers and data users, can be found here in English, French, and Portuguese.