The overall goal of the project is to build and populate the web-based platform, the Biodiversity Atlas of Kenya, to facilitate biodiversity information assessment and decision making at different scales in Kenya. The project identified key and relevant biodiversity datasets useful to support decision- making processes at the national and county levels, developed a web portal with key datasets and online tools accessible for spatial planning and conducted capacity building of data providing agencies and county governments. Although the project managed to obtain key biodiversity data, some of it is still not accessible. Also, some data does not meet the standards required for uploading on to the portal. The project has made all biodiversity data compiled for the Natural capital atlas available on the online portal www.biodiversityatlaskenya.org.

1. Improving the functionality of portal and user-experience through iterations of user-centric design and testing.
2. Enhance content through data harvesting and linkages to improve content offering through other global portals.
3. Secure sustainable hosting and support for biodiversity data and portal.

With COVID-19 restricting travel and meeting with our grantees, JRS invited our projects to submit a short update for the JRS Board of Trustees. Though intended for an internal JRS audience, we loved these videos and share them here with permission. Enjoy!

• Enhanced content through data harvesting and linkages to improve content offering through other global portals.
• Improved functionality of the national biodiversity portal that is driven by user-centric design which will provide appropriate and relevant user experience to support decision making.
• Production of a plan for the sustainability of the biodiversity web portal’s hosting and management.

The Kenya Biodiversity Atlas will provide high-quality information and data for research, policy development, management, and planning to develop more effective means of sustaining Kenya’s biodiversity. Through an enhanced User Interface, more people will utilize the website and hosted data. As a result, the increase in availability and access to biodiversity information is expected to influence decision making processes and planning.

• Original users of the portal came from only two counties, and we now aim to enhance the platform to a wide range of users at the national level.
• County portals have not been ‘owned’ by counties, meaning they have not yet been useful to county level decision-making. 
• Since biodiversity exists beyond boundaries, and biodiversity data can be collected at local to national and international levels, without relying upon counties to drive data collection as in the first phase of the portal’s development. 
• A web portal designed for local needs may look and function very differently than a web portal designed for national or international users. The MOL tool was developed with global needs in mind and is not integrated with the county-level applications of the portal.
• The relationship between different tools can be improved for the ease of navigation and use of the portal. 
• Some of the underlying data layers, mainly the GIS layers served through the GeoNode application, have inadequate metadata, and additional work is needed.

Lucy Waruingi is from a statistics and computer science background and has a Masters degree in GIS from Manchester Metropolitan University. Lucy has worked as head of ICT and GIS at ACC and later on as Head of Programmes and Deputy Director before becoming Executive Director. Her interest is in integrating biodiversity knowledge-bases to provide relevant synthesized information that would influence conservation action and her skills are in GIS, spatial and statistical analysis, and she is currently developing local, regional and international networks in biodiversity informatics.

• The National Museum of Kenya
• Upande Ltd

With each grant, we aim to learn something about what it takes to create a sustainable and effective information system. The investment to ACC in 2014 created the Kenya Biodiversity Atlas web portal, which now houses biodiversity data for Kenya. There still is more to be done to ensure that this portal is useful for local decision-makers and researchers. A key component of successful portals is a user interface that is easy to navigate and functional. This follow-on investment will support a user-centric design process and prepare the portal for sustainable use and maintenance which we hope will be adopted by the National Museums of Kenya.