BID-AF 2015-0025-NAC: Evaluation and development of a funding mechanism and efficient management of data ont plant biodiversity in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

The National Florist Center (CNF) was created in 1973 and its main mission is the realization of all botanical studies in Ivory Coast. It contains the National Herbarium which has about 60000 specimens that were collected in rural areas, forest reserves and national parks by Professor Aké-Assi Laurent. This allowed not only to have reference specimens, but also to contribute to the formation of many other botanists and biodiversity conservation agents. Today, the CNF is struggling to meet its sorereign mission due to lack of funding and the lapsing of the service. The objective of this project is to reinvigorate the action of CNF in the backup data of the Ivorian flora by contributing to an efficient and universal use of data on plant biodiversity in Côte d’Ivoire, through the establishment of a participatory strategy of capitalization and dissemination. The project will be executed by four major players who are involved in the management of the Ivorian plant biodiversity. Thus, through missions and workshops and the digitization of the herbarium of CNF, all floristic actors holding data will be involved in the development of this new Ivorian flora management tool via a collaborative tool. Further, the CNF is facing many challenges in the remobilization of actors and data in the faciliting of data access and above all in the participative and continuous updating of data.

The project is funded by GBIF