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Building Capacity for Plant Biodiversity Inventory and Conservation in Nepal

Building Capacity for Plant Biodiversity Inventory and Conservation in Nepal. RONAST. Flora of Nepal. 6500-7000 spp. Enumeration completed 1982. Collaborative project to write Flora with centres in: Edinburgh Kathmandu Tokyo London (Natural History Museum). Estimated timescale 15 years.

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Building Capacity for Plant Biodiversity Inventory and Conservation in Nepal

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  1. Building Capacity for Plant Biodiversity Inventory and Conservation in Nepal RONAST

  2. Flora of Nepal • 6500-7000 spp. • Enumeration completed 1982. • Collaborative project to write Flora with centres in: • Edinburgh • Kathmandu • Tokyo • London (Natural History Museum). • Estimated timescale 15 years.

  3. Project aims • Strengthen capacity for taxonomy (especially staff and collections at DPR and TU). • Train 18 Nepalese scientists in data recording, plant collection, and conservation status assessment.

  4. RONAST - Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

  5. DPR - Department of Plant Resources

  6. TU - Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University

  7. Project activities • 3 training workshops. • 1 field trip (3 in total). • Preparation of Flora account • 1 visit to UK

  8. 16 Darwin Scholars • Institutional nominations • 2 RONAST • 4 DPR • 4 TU • Open competition • 2 Freelance • 2 TU • 1 Natural History Museum • 1 DPR

  9. Challenges • Relationship among partner institutions has not been close historically. • Communication – broadband internet links poor. • Resources – herbarium needs much curation, library poor, infrastructure poor, bad microscopes. • Access to herbarium problematic to non DPR staff. • Cultural problems – books and equipment may be kept in director’s office as status symbol. • Access to computers limited. • No funds to pay for shipping loans. • No money for staff to visit foreign herbaria. • Need to maintain progress and momentum. • Poor career opportunities for junior botanists. • Complex bureaucracy slows implementation.

  10. Lessons • Clarity is required during initial meetings • Relationships take a long time to develop – there is no substitute for face to face meetings. • High level access to government via RONAST creates high profile project. • NGOs assist in raising profile of project. • Nomination / selection procedure. • Task-orientated learning. • 1 to 1 training. • British Embassy and British Council. • Institutions are not monolithic. • Be sensitive to financial limitations of participants. • Good to have dedicated fund-raising department in UK. • Buy your own data projector.

  11. Taxonomy and monitoring of species: building capacity to support CBD information needs • What are some of the needs of host countries in terms of taxonomy and monitoring of species. Where are the biggest gaps? • Could these needs be better identified? GTI needs assessments? • What are the strengths and opportunities in Darwin Initiative in supporting taxonomic capacity in developing countries? • What are the barriers and obstacles to the Darwin Initiative in the above? • Could Darwin Initiative collaborative more closely with existing global and regional taxonomy and information initiatives e.g. GBIF; to deliver more benefits? • What aspects of biodiversity policy are key to support the development of taxonomic studies and monitoring of species in host countries?

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