Southern African Botanical Diversity Network (SABONET)

SELECTED PRJOECT OUTPUTS

• SABONET organised and participated in two regional expeditions -- one to the Nyika Plateau in Malawi and Zambia and the other to southern Mozambique.
  
  The Nyika Plateau expedition (March/April 2000) involved 20 botanists from southern and eastern African countries. The Nyika plateau consists of rolling grasslands, with forest and woodland patches. Altogether 3,343 plant specimens were collected during the expedition. A comprehensive account of the flora of the Plateau was published in the SABONET Report Series.
  
  The second SABONET regional plant collecting expedition took place in southern Mozambique in November 2001, with the primary focus on the Maputo Elephant Reserve and the Licuati Forest Reserve. During the expedition, approximately 2,000 specimens were collected. Twenty participants from all participating SABONET countries joined the expedition, which was led by five scientific leaders. Many of the participants wrote accounts of the expedition, which were published in SABONET News.
• A 4x4 vehicle, camping equipment, cameras and GPS instruments were purchased through SABONET for field work. The project conducted a total of 109 national field collecting expeditions within the ten countries.
• Computerised herbarium databases were developed in all ten countries. (complete only in Namibia with 81,211 specimens). Approximately 450,000 of the 2,743,004 specimens housed in the participating herbaria and institutions have already been entered (46%). The database's first priority - listing of Poaceae (grasses and cereals) - is complete. Some countries have completed GIS mapping of species distribution.
• The project has actively strengthened networking within the 17 regional herbaria and 22 botanical gardens in the 10 participating countries . It has created a strong core of professional botanists, taxonomists, horticulturists, and plant diversity specialists. There are now 33 postgraduate biodiversity specialists, 39 para-taxonomists, 16 living collections managers and 14 MSc or PhD biodiversity specialists working within participating institutions.
• To strengthen communications and facilitate networking between institutions SABONET installed e-mail and Internet facilities where necessary.
• The project has established a formal collaborating Southern Africa Biodiversity Network with a steering committee, project coordinator's office and national working groups. A Southern African Botanical Gardens Conservation Strategy has been published.
• A needs assessment was conducted at participating herbaria and botanical gardens. Computer hardware and software were purchased, and computer networks put in place. To strengthen institutional capacity, herbarium cabinets, microscopes and freezers were purchased for each of the ten countries.
• SABONET was successful in linking with related projects in the region. These included: the Survey of Economic Plants in Arid and Semi Arid Lands (SEPASAL) in Namibia; the Millennium Seed Bank projects with South Africa, Namibia and Botswana; the Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA) project in Malawi; and the African Plants Initiative and African Plant Checklist projects.
• SABONET was a frequent presence at key international and regional meetings including: South African Association of Botanists Congress 2004
• The project revitalized southern African botanical institutions' involvement in the taxonomic community. Through its activities with botanical gardens, SABONET built linkages to the African Botanic Gardens Network and Botanic Gardens Conservation International and has implemented various aspects of the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation. SABONET contributed to the Association for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Tropical Africa (AETFAT) Congresses in Meise, Belgium (2000) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2002).
• During the years of SABONET's activity, participants computerised approximately 450,000 of the specimens housed in the participating herbaria and institutions. SABONET's database experiences have been instrumental in the development of the African Plants Initiative and the African Plant Checklist project with linkages to the all the key botanical/plant taxonomic expertise in Africa, Europe and the USA.
• SABONET supported Threatened Plants Programmes (TPPs) as a key output of its botanical garden initiative at the following institutions:   Botswana National Botanical Garden , Harold Porter National Botanical Garden, South Africa, INIA, University, and Tunduru Botanical Gardens, Mozambique, Katse Botanical Garden , Lesotho, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, South Africa , KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Garden, South Africa , Lowveld National Botanical Garden , South Africa , Namibia National Botanical Garden, University of Zambia Nursery , and Zimbabwe National Botanical Gardens.
• The proposed GEF/UNDP Eastern Africa Botanical and Zoological Networks in Taxonomy (BOZONET), has been modeled on SABONET. SABONET outputs have also been up-scaled and replicated through the Africa Botanic Gardens Network, the African Plants Initiative and African Plant Checklist project, as well as related initiatives such as the MSB project, SEPASAL and PROTA. Some SABONET products have been replicated in-country.

Publications

• SABONET News - a network newsletter - was published three times a year, with a mailing list of 905 people worldwide. The 24 published issues were a useful networking tool and the main medium of communication between SABONET stakeholders. Two long-running series in the newsletter - How to write articles for publication and Invasive alien plants in southern Africa - were deemed particularly useful by readers.
• A project website was established and maintained. Many SABONET publications were made available on-line.
• The SABONET Report series of regional and national technical publications included 39 published titles of which 19 were national publications . The reports form a comprehensive source of information on southern African plant biodiversity and rare and threatened plants. Subject areas in the series include. botanical gardens; checklists, conference proceedings, herbarium information, how-to guides, Red Data Lists, resource lists and SABONET-specific information.
• The compilation of Red Data Lists resulted in a full-colour book, containing lists for nine of the ten participating countries, as well as an on-line database with advanced search capabilities.

Training

• SABONET organised and hosted 22 in-house regional training courses using local resources and expertise. Of the 186 participants who attended the regional courses more than a third (37%) were female. Staff trained by SABONET have been absorbed by participating institutions or promoted to key positions .
• Training courses comprised: Regional Herbarium Management and Plant Conservation Course (South Africa, December 1996); Regional Computer Course (South Africa, May 1997); Regional Second Herbarium Management Course (South Africa, August 1997); Regional Pteridophyte Identification and Botanical Nomenclature Training Course (Malawi, November 1997); Regional Grass Identification Course, Herbarium (ROML) (Lesotho, December 1997); Regional Aquatic Plants Training Course (Botswana, April 1998); Regional Database Managers Training Course (Africa, June 1998); Regional Threatened Plants (Red Data List) Training Course (South Africa, June 1998); Regional Grass Identification Course (ZimbabweJanuary 1999); Regional Miombo Woodland Training Course (Zambia, June 1999); Regional Database management Course (Beginners) (South Africa, August 1999); Regional Database management Course (Advanced) (South Africa, August 1999); Regional 3rd Herbarium Management Course (South Africa, October 1999); Regional Database Management Course (Beginners) (South Africa, December 2000); Regional Database Managers Short Course for senior staff of herbaria (Namibia, February 2001); National Botanical Drawing Course (South Africa, April 2001); Regional Environmental Impact Assessment Course for Botanists (South Africa, May 2001); Regional Herbarium Managers Course for senior staff of herbaria (South Africa, August 2001); Regional Botanical Gardens Management Course (South Africa, November 2001); Regional Plant Identification Course (Mozambique, December 2001); Regional Botanical Gardens Horticultural Course (South Africa, April 2002); Regional Database management Course (Advanced) (South Africa, May 2002).
• Four courses were also organized at a national level:National Grass Identification Course (Namibia, March 1997); National PRECIS Computer Course (Namibia, March 1997); National Herbarium Management and EIA Course (Zambia, December 2002);.and National Cycad Conservation Course (South Africa, August 2002).
• Various Red Listing courses were also held at national levels to develop red lists.
• Other training accomplishments included organizing 75 internships at the region's herbaria and botanical gardens; sponsoring. 22 MSc students, of whom two have proceeded to PhD studies. Exchange visits between participating institutions were also organized.

Partners and national participating organisations

USAID, IUCN ROSA
Angola: Luanda Herbarium (LUAI) at the Agostinho Neto University. (Links were also made with the Lubango Herbarium (LUBA) in the southwestern corner of the country).
Botswana: Peter Smith Herbarium, Botswana National Herbarium, Herbarium of the University of Botswana, Botswana National Botanical Garden.
Lesotho: Roma Herbarium; Herbarium in Sehlabathebe National Park; Katse Botanical Garden
Malawi: National Herbarium, Lilonge Botanical Garden, Mzuzu Botanical Garden, Zomba Botanical Garden
Mozambique: The LMA Herbarium (National Herbarium of Mozambique) at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agronómica (INIA).
Namibia: National Herbarium, National Botanical Garden of Namibia
South Africa: Compton Herbarium, Natal Herbarium, Pretoria Herbarium , Freestate Botanical Garden , Harold Porter Botanical Garden, Karoo National Botanical Garden, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Lowveld Botanical Garden, Natal Botanical Garden , Pretoria Botanical Garden, University of Natal Botanical Garden, Witwatersrand (Walter Sisulu) National Botanical Garden.
Swaziland : Swaziland National Herbarium
Zambia: University of Zambia Herbarium , Munda Wanga Botanical Gardens
Zimbabwe: National Herbarium, National Botanic Garden, Vumba Botanic Garden

Dedicated project website : http://www.sabonet.org.za

Newsletter: SABONET News (Three times a year)

^ Back to top