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GBIF-France, the French national Node (http://www.gbif.fr/) has agreed to serve as a mentor Node for the African and Asian countries participating in SEP-CEPDEC.
SEP-CEPDEC is a three year project funded by the French Government through their Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) as a collaboration between the French initiative “Sud Expert Plantes (SEP)” and GBIF’s Capacity Enhancement Programme for Developing Countries (CEPDEC) .
The joint SEP-CEPDEC project aims to build capacity on biodiversity informatics in 22 francophone countries in Africa and Asia. As a mentor Node the team of GBIF-France will assist with building such capacity via their participation in related national and regional training workshops, technical visits, online support, tool development, and preparation of guidelines, training materials and other relevant documentation.
The support provided by GBIF-France in collaboration with the GBIF Secretariat will help those SEP countries that are already GBIF Participants (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, and Madagascar) to establish their own national biodiversity information facilities (NBIFs). The remaining 17 countries that are not GBIF members yet will benefit from the training activities, materials, and guidelines prepared or adapted by GBIF-France for Francophone audiences. These countries are:
- In Africa: Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, D.R. Congo, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Togo;
- In Asia: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The implementation of this project started in June 2008, and will be completed towards the second quarter of 2010.
"Sud Expert Plantes" (SEP) is an initiative of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs established to support the efforts made by developing countries in Africa and Asia to know, conserve and sustainably use their plants and associated genetic resources. SEP helps building capacity in research organisations and academic institutions working on plant biodiversity, ecology, conservation biology, and sustainable use of plants, mostly by funding scientific projects promoting South-South, North-South, and interdisciplinary synergies. The initiative is scheduled on 5 years (2006-2011) and covers 4 main geographic areas: Western Africa, Central Africa, Indian Ocean, and South-east Asia.
The ‘Capacity Enhancement Programme for Developing Countries’ (CEPDEC) is an initiative developed by GBIF to help create effective capacity in developing countries to integrate the use of biodiversity data in education, science and policy- and decision-making at all levels. Accurate, easily-accessible biodiversity information is one of the key factors needed for any country, region or local community to make informed, sound environmental decisions, and thereby assure sustainable use and development of their biodiversity.
For additional information about SEP-CEPDEC please contact:
- Eric Chenin
- SEP Executive Secretary and GBIF France Coordinator
- IRD Orléans
- eric.chenin@orleans.ird.fr
- Tel.: +33 2 38 49 95 77
Or
- Juan Carlos Bello
- Senior Programme Officer for Nodes
- GBIF Secretariat
- jbello@gbif.org
- Tel.: +45 35 32 14 89
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