Building Biodiversity Information Networks for the Compilation of Kenya s Natural Capital

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1 Building Biodiversity Information Networks for the Compilation of Kenya s Natural Capital TDWG 2012 Annual Conference: October Beijing CHINA Lucy WARUINGI, African Conservation Centre. KENYA

2 Biodiversity Conference Findings and Recommendations

3 KENYA S INVESTMENTS IN BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS EA Global strategy for plant conservation UVIMA project Pests, Pollinators and invasive species 2010 International Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change. A Conference sub-theme was Biodiversity Informatics Policy brief session on A National Conservation Framework

4 Outcomes Biodiversity Informatics training for collection managers and Biodiversity information Managers A new project from the Govt. Of Kenya: to collate and analyse all available biodiversity data/information and compile Kenya s Biodiversity Atlas

5 The Objectives To develop an illustrative guide to Kenya s biodiversity To document Kenya s natural capital its biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports, the threats it faces and the national framework for its conservation To assemble the scattered and disparate datasets that exist across various institutions into a common integrated biodiversity database and atlas To bring together various national and international conservation organizations to develop a suite of tools and maps for mapping, valuing and sustaining Kenyan s biodiversity.

6 KENYA S RICH HERITAGE

7 A Biodiversity ATLAS of KENYA

8 A Collaborative Process A Consortium led by African Conservation Centre National Museums of Kenya Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development Nature Kenya & Birdlife International Kenya Wildlife Service World Resources Institute & International Livestock Research Institute Green Belt Movement Yale University-USA York University-UK, Missouri Botanical Gardens-USA And more

9 A Consultative Process TEAM MEETINGS Lead Authors and co-authors Data working group Website working group Monthly meetings of consortium Chapter teams meets twice a month Synthesis teams Secretariat: GIS analysis, Data and Information sourcing

10 Collation of data/information Collate and analyse all available biodiversity data and information Data sharing protocols Data standards for museum collections; spatial data, metadata catalogues Portal for linkages to existing online data: GBIF, Web of Life, EOL Networking with similar initiatives in East Africa: KenBIF, UgaBIF, TanBIF, Rwanda and Burundi Developing tools for data integration

11 Chapter 1: KENYA S NATURAL HERITAGE The importance of biodiversity in sustaining the productivity, welfare, resilience of ecosystems and human well being. The importance of mapping and auditing natural capital and ecological services along with economic and social capital Kenya s Cultural Heritage A diversity of cultures, languages and lifestyles

12 Chapter 2: Kenya s Diverse Environments Rift Valley Mt Kenya

13 Chapter 3: Major Ecosystems change analysis of the major ecosystem categories Identifying threats of priority ecosystems

14 Chapter 4: Wealth of Species Kenya has thousands of (vascular) plant species, in hundreds of families. Kenya is home to over 600 plant species that do not occur anywhere else in the world.

15 1970s a) Elephant 2000s Numbers < >200 b) Hunters hartebeest Declining wildlife threatens tourism We need to understand distribution patterns and trends. Numbers < >175 Data Source: DRSRS; Photos ILRI, Ron Beaton

16 Chapter 5: Valuing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services Benefits of Kenya s Ecosystems Provisioning services Regulating services Cultural services Supporting services Natural capital accounting: production of national statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy to monitor these interactions

17 Chapter 6 - Threats Population growth and trends Land use change Sustainable use including overharvesting and illegal use Pollution Climate change Invasive species Human-wildlife conflicts.

18 Ensuring Future Diversity Develop a National framework for conservation of Kenya s Biodiversity Policy Implications for the conservation of Kenya s biodiversity Establish a National Biodiversity Institute Build capacity in Biodiversity Informatics Establish and maintain an open infrastructure for biodiversity information management Develop tools for decision making support

19 WEB-PLATFORM Web portal for Biodiversity Decision Making Akin to Atlas of Living Australia Data discovery tools Biodiversity Informatics tools Capacity Building Citizen science engagement Launch Biodiversity Atlas of Kenya

20 The FUTURE of Biodiversity Informatics in AFRICA?

21 Building Networks document assemble bring together

22 Building Broader BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS NETWOKS Previous support from JRS foundation, BioNET, NASA-Servir Africa, GBIF,.. In Kenya, JRS foundation support to ACC, BGCI and NMK explore feasibility of establishing a Regional Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity Informatics in East Africa. Regional workshop held in May 2012 in Nairobi with Kenya, Uganda,Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and idea endorsed

23 Growth in AFRICA.. GBIF nodes already underway in the region: TanBIF, UgaBIF and KenBIF. Burundi & Rwanda in progress. East Africa has a heritage of Common flora and fauna Regional training efforts over last 3years have built capacity on common standards such as Brahms, Specify, IPT toolkit, georeferencing, metadata etc..

24 Web platform will be robust to allow participation of EA countries. EA Governments keen to provide policy framework under EAC through the Science and Technology Institutitutes AFRICA will benefit from the advancements in TDWG and leverage the global initiatives >>>>>>>>> See you in Africa, 2014

25 THANK YOU * TDWG Conference Committee * JRS Biodiversity Foundation * Tulane University, USA * Royal Museum of Central Africa * Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, KENYA Lucy WARUINGI, African Conservation Centre. Lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke