Weather data
A large number of automatic weather stations has been implemented in the frame of the BIOTA AFRICA project by the Namibian National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and the Group "Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology" (BEE) of the University of Hamburg. The website offers hourly updates of data and graphs of a large number of weather parameters.


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BIOTA West Africa BIOTA West Africa - Workpackage - CT4


Overview

 Core Topic (CT)

Capacity building

 Topic (T)

Workpackage

 Title

Capacity building

 Project leader(s)

 Project description

Education is a key qualification for any developmental measure. As poverty is a crucial threat to biodiversity, formation of capacities at different levels and knowledge sharing with all involved stakeholders is a key concern of BIOTA West. This holds especially true as West Africa is one of the poorest regions of the world depending mainly on volatile revenues from cash crops, such as cotton and cacao, for their national income. High level education, professional training and research generally have low priority in our West African partner countries.

This poor educational setting and the lacking scientific means are in sharp contrast to the needs for highly qualified personnel for the management and conservation of natural resources in the countries concerned. The development of appropriate biodiversity-maintaining approaches, well adapted to specific local conditions, requires experts who possess sound scientific background and who are also trained in applied interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, training of local capacities is the most efficient and effective way to transfer and disseminate results and newly developed approaches directly to stakeholders and to bring them into practice.

Building up additional infrastructure, like information centres, zoological reference collections, herbaria, and the establishment of sustainable structures for data compilation and data exchange on a national and cross-country level (BIOTA West data nodes) as well as the implementation of local, national and transboundary conservation strategies (e.g. Locally Protected Areas Network) forms a sound basis for ongoing activities on biodiversity conservation and on designing methods for its sustainable use. Furthermore linkage with national and international institutions and organisations (e.g. the National Focal Points) will be strengthened by the activities of the local BIOTA West Information Centres. The investment into well-trained stakeholders and scientists with successful and efficient South-South co-operation as a result of joint education, combined with the provision of various will have a very positive short- and long-term impact in our partner countries regarding crucial aspects of sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.