Effective communication

With 21 per cent of all freshwater species in Africa listed as threatened in a recent IUCN assessment, large gaps in existing information make it even more difficult to arrive at urgent evidence-based decisions. So despite having an extensive range of sustainable management policies for water, wetlands and fisheries, in Uganda, answering simple questions like “Which species are found in this lake?” is still difficult.

The National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) published more than 14,000 fish records from Ugandan collections through this project and initiated a national capacity-building programme for data mobilization. Maps and policy recommendations that relied on project data to established important benchmarks, leading the country’s Ministry of the Environment to nominate NaFIRRI to set monitoring targets for aquatic biodiversity data under the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and to identify areas for additional baseline data collection and long-term monitoring aquatic environment is a major source of food, employment, local income and of export earnings

Following a successful initial project, the team recognized ongoing challenges in users' capacity to extract biodiversity information from raw data. In the second phase, NaFIRRI secured a new BID grant to enhance GBIF data and create comprehensive freshwater biodiversity information for conservation planning in Uganda.

The project produced Uganda's first national Red List for fish, covering 293 species with distribution maps, and a water quality explorer tool, accessible through the Freshwater Biodiversity Portal. Institutions including the Directorate of Fisheries Resources and the National Environmental Management Authority were engaged to disseminate and incorporate this data into decision-making. For example, the Red List and fish distribution maps have been integrated into a sensitivity atlas for Semuliki National Park and used to validate Key Biodiversity Areas. Coordination is led by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Wildlife Conservation Society, with efforts ongoing to secure funding for sustainability.

From 2011 to 2013, the Plant Conservation Action group collaborated with the Seychelles National Herbarium to digitize collections and species data from literature, leading to the development of a database and enabling the definition of 75 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). A BID project proposed to mobilize this data and update KBA assessments using international standards.

Achievements include the publication of a decade's worth of data, a flora checklist with updated taxonomy and species profiles, and a Red List of Ecosystems. These components were used to assess the status of the KBAs in Seychelles' Inner Islands, leading to the establishment of a KBA National Coordination Group. Outcomes were shared through interactive webpages and a documentary. Two government-led initiatives aimed at improving the protected area network benefited from the project's results. Their backing helped the project, particularly with conducting stakeholder consultations, including with private landowners, and securing government support. As a result, several KBAs are now in the process of being nominated for Protected Area status.

Colombia is home to an estimated 20% of the world's epiphyte diversity, but scarcity of information for these plants hinders efforts to assess extinction risks, promote sustainable use, and prioritize areas and species for conservation. A consortium of epiphyte specialists is collaborating with national and international agencies to study and safeguard this diverse community.

The BID project supported five major herbaria to gather collection-based records, assess conservation status, and raise awareness. They evaluated 290 epiphyte species using the RedList approach, involving experts and data from GBIF. The team highlighted the importance of not only conducting extinction risk analyses for academic audiences but actively disseminating the data on national and global platforms, allowing relevant authorities to access the data to take concrete conservation actions for this group of plants. This enables research to be translated into practical conservation measures through effective data sharing.