The West African nation of Guinea has become the 38th Voting Participant in the GBIF network, having joined as an Associate Participant in March 2005.
Sidibe Sedibinet, Director General of the Centre National d'Observation et de Suivi Environmmental, signed the Memorandum of Understanding that adds Guinea to the countries that contribute financially to GBIF. The country’s representatives can now also vote on collective decisions taken by the GBIF Governing Board.
Since joining GBIF, Guinean staff have participated in several training events, notably those organized under the SEP-CEPDEC initiative, which supported the development of national biodiversity information networks in Francophone countries and promoted the engagement with GBIF.
As of September 2015, users can access to more than 68,000 occurrence records in Guinea through GBIF.org. Twenty-four different countries publish data about species in Guinea, with France contributing more than two thirds of those records.
Photo: Conakry, Guinea. By Jeff Attaway via Flickr. CC BY 2.0