Project Detail

The establishment of a biological records centre: a capacity building effort to aid biodiversity conservation in The Gambia

The WCT as part of its ?Aims and Objectives? and in support of its MOU with the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management (DPWM) is committed to the establishment of a Biological Records Centre for The Gambia. This project is to set up the Records Centre and equip it with the necessary materials to enable the establishment of a self sustaining National Biological Records centre. This requires the establishment of a computerized database able to accept records of numerous species of wildlife found in West Africa and to be able to cross reference these species with habitat data, dates, locations, etc to enable easy access to information in a wide variety of formats.

There is already a great deal known about the birdlife of The Gambia but even within this field of study the amount of factual data is very limited and inaccessible to most people. The principal target community is the entire conservation community within The Gambia through individuals, Government wildlife departments, organizations and NGO?s providing verifiable data for policy implementation. The second principal target is the University of The Gambia and the education system where data obtained can be used by students for practical study and for specific research projects. A third target body concerns the collection of data. This is the tourist market through bird guides where many wildlife observations are made but never submitted to any collective body.

Data gathered and evaluated through this scheme will enable the publication of information reports in the local media but also the production of scientific papers to be published within the international scientific community which will raise the profile of The Gambia in this arena.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

The Wildlife and Conservation Trust The Gambia

Country:

Gambia

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 40,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 3,710.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 11,000.00

Project Number:

GMB/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/21

Start Date:

11/2013

End Date:

10/2014

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

Once the initial scheme has been set up, the costs of operation are not considerable. The center will use the data to generate various reports, which will be offered for sale. Certain data operations will also be available to clients at minimal charges except for schools in which case it will be free of charge. The funds generated will then be use for operational costs to keep the center running.

Notable Community Participation

The aim of this project is to establish a biological records Centre; a capacity building effort to aid biodiversity conservation in The Gambia. There are a number of stakeholders involve in this project including the entire conservation community within The Gambia through individuals, local and international organizations, relevant government departments and students at all levels. The project has signed MOU with the ministry of basic and secondary education and has also forged partnership with the University of The Gambia to further its objectives.

Capacity - Building Component

The amount of factual data on wildlife in The Gambia is very limited and inaccessible to most people. With the successful implementation of this project, data will be made easily accessible to individuals, relevant government departments and organizations, thus providing verifiable data for policy making decisions. It will also be a reliable data source for students both for practical studies and specific research projects. Thus this is a capacity development project enabling significant improvements in the ability of The Gambia to assess and monitor conservation efforts in a measurable form.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The implementing organization has plans to recruit local community personnel for as many tasks as possible for the duration of the project. This will serve as a source of employment and subsequently income for the community members and ultimately will contribute to improving livelihoods in the community.

Policy Influence

The project is expected to influence policy planning and decision-making on biodiversity through the provision of timely, accurate and user-friendly formats to all users.

Gender Focus

This project is envisage to be of benefit equitably to both genders. The best office employee is a female , setting he tone for the approach to implementation.

Project Results

-Purchase of essential equipment completed.This includes a desk top computer, scanner, copier, and software

-MOU signed with Ministry of Education and office space secured from the ministry's premises located within the WFP Warehouse Complex in Kanifing to temporarily house the project until a permanent home is found in the near future. Discussions have been initiated with The University Of The Gambia to finally house the records centre and be used as a research and teaching centre.

- Recruitment of office personnel completed with 1 office assistant recruitment completed to help in the data entry process. The staff formed a core Gambian data team and received training in data entry and processing of information.

- Data or sighting records of birds in The Gambia collected over several years by Gambian and tourist bird watchers has already been uploaded into the system with over 7, 000 bird records so far. Work has also begun on capturing records on moths, amphibians, reptiles and trees of The Gambia.

- The website (www.gambiabiocentre.org) was completed and launched with the process of data updating on going.The launching ceremony was followed by a training and demonstration exercise on how the system works and how to make submission of records.

- The training sessions focused on data input dating back 10 years and how to update this information which include registration of contributors, data input and verification process and final updating of the database. It also included the possible uses of the data for planning, education, research and other uses by the individuals, the public and institutions.The data include species information (i.e. birds, mammals, trees, butterflies, moths, reptiles and amphibians with their scientific names, English names and local names where applicable.

- To introduce the project to other areas outside the Capital city and its environs, a series of training and demonstration sessions were conducted in the Upper River Region, Central River Region (both North and South), Lower River Region and North Bank region. During the regional demonstrations, the importance of the centre to conduct a national inventory on the range of species and their status was highlighted and was well receptive by the participants. The training session focused on how to use the system, the survey of birds in the Abuko Nature Reserve, butterfly surveys as well as the survey of the flowering plants within the Abuko nature reserve, survey of Tanji Bird Reserve and Bijol Islands - a major breeding ground for migratory birds in the Gambia. The training also dealt with how to use the database to provide advice to tourists visiting The Gambia on how to access Bird information. The training finally trained The Department of Parks and Wildlife on how to participate in The World migratory Day held in may each year.

- Among the achievements of the project were the following:
- A review of the species biodiversity inventory and monitoring systems in place and the identification of the major areas of species biodiversity concentration.
- Assessment of the current and past biodiversity inventories and monitoring and the determination of the key factors in maintaining an effective species assessment system.
- Developing a framework for species biodiversity condition measurement and the design of a species inventory and monitoring programme.
- Identification of outcomes that could be measured to assess effective and monitoring of indigenous species biodiversity.
- Establishment of a standard data inventory system to ensure high quality data for the system including a verification and vetting process for new data.
- An assessment of the potentials of 'pay to Print" approach by the public in order to make the system self sustaining.
- Promotion of the services offered by the Biological records Centre network to ecological national experts within the country.
- Explored the possibilities of improving the services provided by the National Biodiversity Records Centre to the public by implementing delivery services identified by advocacy projects and;
- Identified both short and long term strategies to improve consistency of data provision across the country.

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