The UVIMA Project

Project scope

Starting in October 2008, this 2.5 year project aims to consolidate and mobilize existing taxonomic information for generating tools and products relevant to the environmental, food and poverty crises in Africa. The project seeks to contribute to resolving these interlinked crises by providing taxonomic tools to enhance ecosystem resilience and food security, focusing on three area: pollinators, invasive alien species and pests. The project will build on ongoing national and regional initiatives and address some of the priorities identified during the Botanical and Zoological Taxonomic Networks for East Africa (BOZONET) proposal development process. While focused on East Africa, UVIMA will also provide a platform for engaging partners, sharing experiences and delivering outcomes at the pan-African level.

• Invasive alien species are key drivers of change in ecosystems, often severely compromising the delivery of ecosystem services.
• Pests are a constant challenge to agricultural productivity and trade
• Pollinator decline in diversity and abundance is likely to cause the next agricultural crises in Africa

UVIMA Organizational Chart

Click here to download the UVIMA organizational chart

 

Policy Relevance

Outputs of this project will be relevant for the implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Global Strategy on Invasive Alien Species, the African Pollinators Initiative Plan of Action, the Common African Plant Protection Strategy and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the World Trade Organization, among other national, regional and international policy frameworks. Local taxonomic partnerships will be strengthened to provide timely, relevant, and locally optimsed products and services in response to emerging challenges.

 

Partners

Co-ordinated by BioNet - EAFRINET, the project is led by experts from this East African taxonomy network including agricultural and biodiversity research institutions in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as well as partners of BioNet at the pan-African and global level.

 

Invitation to participate

In its initial phase, the project will focus on assessing the stakeholder needs for taxonomic information and on building linkages to partners. We invite and encourage involvement from those with experience in biodiversity informatics and the development and dissemination of taxonomic tools and products at national and local levels.

 

Download Adverts TOR's and Checklist Templates

Download TOR for INVASIVE Checklist | PEST Checklist | POLLINATOR Checklist

Download Templates for INVASIVE Plant List | PEST List | POLLINATOR List

Download checklist guidelines INVASIVE | PEST | POLLINATOR

 

Past Stakeholder workshop 29th June to 1st July 2009

The UVIMA preparatory workshop brought together national and regional stakeholders as well as global partners to build a consensus on the scope and priorities of the project.

Download Workshop Program | UVIMA Workshop Concept Paper

Download Uvima Tools & Products Consultancy Reports Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Download UVIMA Baseline Reports Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Download IAS Consultancy Report | UVIMA Pollinators Draft Report

 

BioNet secretariat bionet@bionet-intl.org

BioNet- EAFRINET Regional Co-ordinator,

Dr. Wanja Kinuthia

National Museums of Kenya

P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya

Email:eafrinet@africaonline.co.ke

Tel: 254 20 2088478

Fax: 254 20 3744833