1. Biodiversity Management Programme Horn of Africa region - IGAD
Upgrading the data infrastructure for the IGAD region focusing on botanical data
Denis Filer and William Hawthorne
Consultants for IGAD BMP
Oxford

2. Biodiversity Management Programme in the Horn of Africa region
There is need to identify the ecosystems, biomes and habitats that harbour rare, habitat dependent species at risk of extinction and to compile data into databases…
To achieve this, it is necessary to build national, regional and continental databases that provide information on the level of endemism of key species, pinpoint the areas where concentrations of endemic species are found, and assess the rate of habitat loss in these areas…

3. Strengthen the botanical infra-structure for IGAD region
Our proposed activities are to strengthen the botanical infra-structure for IGAD region. By focusing initially on botanical data:
The project upgrades the capacity of the regional herbaria.
The data can be used locally to generate and map high resolution biodiversity results .
The data can be shared with the RRIS.
The processes developed can be used as a template for other data categories such as marine.

4. Upgrading the IGAD region herbaria data – long overdue
The herbaria of the IGAD region are long overdue a serious and well orchestrated project to upgrade their capacity to use and share their invaluable data.
All the herbaria in the region have explicitly requested the capacity to speed up their data capture, build databases, and exchange regionally.
Store data in a standard format across the IGAD herbaria (and in fact more widely in Africa) and ensure that these data can be easily exchanged in any reasonable format.
Create desktop and online databases at the national level capable of exchange and transfer to the regional level as appropriate.
In particular, generate new baseline data to allow sensible assessments for narrowly distributed species, ecosystem vulnerability and other data required for biodiversity assessment.

5. Lack of botanical data within this region
Patterns of bioquality for the IGAD region divided into half degree grid cells.
The higher the resolution (smaller the locality defined for the record) the more useful the data are.
Even at half degree resolution, much of the IGAD area has too few data records to be confident of the biodiversity content.
Results calculated using species-locality verified herbarium specimen data
Bioquality calculation (GHI = hotspot heat) using half degree grid cells

6. Areas of great interest – poorly understood
Flora Regions (FTEA and Somalia) showing the bioquality (GHI = heat of hotspot) calculated from the species databased for the polygons (incomplete).
The Scores > 800 in Somalia represent the hottest hotspots known in tropical Africa with a very large proportion of species endemic or near-endemic to the region.
Results calculated using species-locality verified herbarium specimen data
Areas in Somalia represent the hottest hotspots known in tropical Africa

7. Zooming into K7 – showing hotter localities
GHI scores calculated for Kaya forest check-lists (Robertson & Luke 1993). Rabai (in South), Kambe, Jibana, Kivara (North).
GHI scores at this scale provide a reasonable basis for defining the global rarity value of a particular forest patch.
Even finer samples <1 ha, typical EIA and ecological samples, reveal subtle local variation of importance to local biodiversity management.
Results calculated using species-locality verified herbarium specimen and plot data

8. The ability to summarise the flora of discrete regions easily
Once the hard work of digitising individual plant locations is tackled, any database will be able to summarise the flora of discrete regions easily.
Examples are to calculate total # of IUCN endangered species; % flora threated, and list such species.
These will be helpful for aspects of CBD / Aichi targets.
A crucial part of the framework for this is already available for the IGAD BMP project: all species classified into 4 levels of global rarity called Stars.
Data from ‘Bioquality Hotspots in the Tropical African Flora’
Marshall et al. (2016) Current Biology

9. Building a plant species list for the IGAD region
Defining the taxonomic framework to the infraspecific level with e.g. synonyms, habit category, IUCN status, local restictions on use, etc. is a long term challenge.
We have compiled a starting list of all known IGAD plant species using existing web resources e.g. the Plant List, African Plants Database; recent publications.
Each species is assigned a STAR value. Star values are calculated using a number of parameters but mostly refect rarity. Black star species are the rarest.
These can be used for different categories of biodiversity analysis.

10. The stars are transferred online and used for hotspot calculations
GHI = Genetic Heat Index reflects the heat of hotspots

11. A need to strengthen the botanical infrastructure
The botanical data for the IGAD region are mostly locked away in herbarium cabinets.
Without these data, it becomes difficult to provide meaningful conservation assessments.
The regional herbaria are the key resource. Their data needs to be databased and made more widely available helping us to assess biodiversity at a far higher resolution.
It would also be useful for plot data (e.g. all-species samples from EIAs and research projects), to be maintained within the same herbarium databases.

12. Working with all the IGAD herbaria
Databases for each herbarium developed as appropriate. Also capable of storing sample plot data.
Each national level herbarium with its own online BRAHMS online (BOL) portal.
Data from all herbaria queryable from a central IGAD BOL website.
Summary data submitted to RRIS.
The BRAHMS online system has also been installed on server in Nairobi
A sample website set up to receive and manage multiple IGAD region herbarium and other relevant databases.

13. Verifying species names and linking to resources
such as the Africa Plant Database
Africa Plants Database
BRAHMS online species listing

14. Extending to marine data
BRAHMS online can be configured fir different catgegories of data
Sampling stations treated as sample plots containing the list of species sampled.

15. How to upgrade the IGAD region botanical data infrastructure
The East African Herbarium in Kenya is the logical place to start. But extend to other herbaria quickly.
Use innovative, cost effective procedures to capture specimen images and have data entered as resources permit.
Augment process using web based citizen science capture.
These data, available at the national level, would be provided to the regional information system in the appropriate format.

16. An image based data capture initiative
The traditional process for specimen data capture is rather slow.
The IGAD BMP project, for the first time, offers a possibility to speed this up – dramatically.
We have developed an innovative process to barcode and image specimens and their labels using low cost but effective technology.
The images (and data as available) will be fed online as they are generated, creating an immediate online resource with facilities for online data capture.

17. Example application with reference to Aichi Target 11
The current analysis of protected area coverage of ecoregions in the RRIS does not prioritise or analyse coverage areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Many ecoregions are well covered by PAs while others are poorly covered.
Our botanical data can help focus in on those areas that we suspect have high GHI but are poorly represented with data.
The analysis would be refined by using Land Cover Maps (showing remaining natural vegetation by ecoregion) and/or Potential Natural Vegetation maps in place of Eco-regions. Land Cover and PNV maps are much finer resolution for the IGAD region.
Preparation of high quality EIAs for botanical (and other taxon groups) using a globally standardised method to identify bioquality – the relative conservation importance of patches of vegetation surveyed during EIA.

18. Demonstration system installed in Nairobi
With help from Lawrence Monda, a draft BRAHMS online system has been installed on the IGAD project server at NMK.
This system is now available to use for IGAD project data.
A draft IGAD region website installed on a server in Oxford – but can be transferred to the NMK server.
Demo URL: