This meeting features a side event hosted by GBIF and UNEP-WCMC:
Capacity building for biodiversity information in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Access to comprehensive, up to date and relevant information on biodiversity supports implementation of the Sustainable Develop-ment Goals (SDGs). This side event is aimed at highlighting efforts to build the capacity of developing countries to mobilize, access and apply biodiversity data and information in support of priority policy needs by creating a biodiversity information network in each country and linking data holders to end users. This is illustrated by three initiatives at different stages of implementation:
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Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) operated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) with funding from the EU under the Biodiversity for Life (B4Life) Flagship Initiative, supporting more than 50 projects in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific;
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The Africa Biodiversity Challenge (ABC), operated by the South African National Biodiversity Institutewith funding from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, supporting national biodiversity data mobilization of priority datasets for end users in four target countries; and
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The Connect project, operated by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre with funding from the Global Environment Facility, aimed at mainstreaming biodiversity information into the heart of government decision making, with a focus on three pilot countries in Africa.
As well as giving practical examples of ways in which these initiatives are addressing capacity issues through the full chain of informa-tion delivery from data collection and formatting to access and use in decision making, the side event will promote discussion of how such approaches can be scaled up and adapted to address global capacity needs for biodiversity information in support of the SDGs.
Presentations given at the side event are available for download below:
- The Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme - Background and current projects (Tim Hirsch, GBIF Secretariat)
- Building Capacity for Biodiversity Data Mobilization and Use (Andrew Rodrigues, GBIF Secretariat)
- Development of the National Biodiversity Database System (NBDS) South Sudan (Paul Lado Demetry, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, South Sudan)
- Mainstreaming biodiversity information into the heart of government decision making (Hilary Allison, UNEP-WCMC)
- Connect Project: Mainstreaming Biodiversity into the Heart of Government Decision Making (Francis Ogwal Sabino, National Environment Management Authority, Uganda)
