The Symposium was co-organised with the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and took place on the 6th of November 2008 back to back with the 15th GBIF Governing Board meeting (GB15) in Arusha,Tanzania.

A selected group of six speakers covered a wide range of topics under the theme using GBIF-mediated data in their analysis. From predictive modeling of species distributions and informatics tools, to invasive species, infectious diseases spread, adaptation of agricultural biodiversity through policy making and capacity building.

145 members of the Governing Board and the Tanzanian scientific community attended the symposium. This event was highly appreciated by many of the delegates as the scientific presentations touched upon many of the key challenges facing the countries of Africa.

Further details about the speakers, including the presentations, and the full programme of the Science Symposium can be downloaded from: http://www.gbif.org/GBIF_org/gbif_symposia.

The programme of the Symposium also included the presentation of the 2008 Ebbe Nielsen Prize winner, Dr. Vince Smith. More information can be found under: http://www.gbif.org/News/enp2008.