CONNECT PROJECT: MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY INTO THE HEART OF GOVERNMENT DECISION MAKING

1. CONNECT PROJECT: MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY INTO THE HEART OF GOVERNMENT DECISION MAKING NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROJECT Presented at a side event –SBSTTA 2; 12 December 2017, Montreal Canada FRANCIS OGWAL SABINO NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGER (BIODIVERSITY AND RANGELANDS)

2. Project objectives at the national level • To clearly understand the in-country demands for, and the barriers to using, biodiversity information within government decision making including clarifying the format, timing and packaging required • To mobilise and repackage existing biodiversity data and information to meet a number of the above demands; and, • To strengthen the connection between government decision makers and biodiversity and ecosystem services data providers in order to sustainably provide policy-relevant, spatially explicit information to meet ongoing national needs.

3. Outcomes of the national inception workshop Progress has been made towards objective 1; component 1 and outcome 1 • Institutions that form the heart of Government decision making to support mainstreaming biodiversity information identified – Cabinet Secretariat, Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance • Information needs for policy makers and means of dissemination identified • Linkage of the project to SDGs, Vision 2040, NDP II, NBSAP identified • Contribution to reporting on progress of implementation of the Presidential Directives on Environment and Natural Resources • Identification of barriers for access to, and use of biodiversity information identified. To be refined at the time of political economy (context) analysis • Process for carrying out political economy (context) analysis clarified

4. PROPOSED BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION NEEDS, THREATS, OPPORTUNITIES AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION STRATEGY

5. PROPOSED BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION NEEDS, THREATS, OPPORTUNITIES AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION STRATEGY Cont’d

6. PROPOSED BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION NEEDS, THREATS, OPPORTUNITIES AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION STRATEGY

7. Provisional barriers (affecting accessing and using biodiversity information) Ranking of barriers - {L-Low; M-Moderate; H-High • Bureaucracy - H • Plagiarism - H • Data hoarding H • Cost of data – High cost - limited funding H • Cost of data production - H • Scattered data - H • Cost of software and Software licenses – H • Incompatibility of formats – H • Incomplete data sets - H • Lack of central database (fragmented) – M • Lack of coordination amongst the MDAs – H • Conflicting mandates – H • Inadequate capacity to analyze data - H • Lack information about the location of the data - H • Intellectual property rights - H • Human Resources (Taxonomists, entomologists) - H • Knowledge management specialist - H • Data outside government control-privately owned- H

8. Some lessons learned so far • The project has successfully demonstrated its relevance and the expectation is high from stakeholders • Political economy analysis may be misinterpreted from what it is intended for and hence proposal to change to “ context analysis” • The establishment of experts working group is envisaged to facilitate sharing of data/information, especially when the group begins handling thematic issues in response to information needs for policy markers • Knowing the institutions that form the heart of Government decision making is very critical for successful mainstreaming of biodiversity