CABIN : Implementing a Biodiversity Information Network in Central Africa

1
CABIN Implementing a Biodiversity Information
Network in Central Africa
- Charles Kahindo
Centre Universitaire de Bukavu, RD Congo
- Franck Theeten, Patricia Mergen, Bart Meganck,
Garin Cael, Kim Jacobsen, Michel Louette
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Targets
General presentation
In 2007, the Royal Museum for Central Africa
started the SABIN(Sub-Saharan African
Biodiversity Network) initiative. Its aim is the
development, the installation and the maintenance
of a network of databases on biodiversity, in
cooperation with scientific institutions located
in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, this initiative
was made concrete with the launch of the CABIN
project (Central African Biodiversity Information
Network), which focuses on DR Congo, Rwanda and
Burundi. CABIN is supported by the Belgian
General Direction of Development Cooperation.

• Countries D.R. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi
• Institutions Education, Research, NGOs
• Individuals

The activities encompassed by this project are

• The conducting of an assessment and a need
  analysis in Central Africa, in terms of access to
  information about taxonomy and biodiversity on
  the Internet.
• The identification of specimen collections
  that may be digitized and later published on
  Internet.
• Capacity Building installation of a database
  and a web portal able to exchange data with the
  GBIF network (Global Biodiversity Information
  Facility), together with the possibility to train
  and teach staff for the maintenance of this
  technical infrastructure.
• Digitization and publishing of these data
  will take place in close collaboration with
  local researchers and researchers from the RMCA,
  using internationally recognized Internet
  protocols and software recommended by the GBIF
  and TDWG (Taxonomic Database Working Group).

CABIN is part of the wider SABIN (Sub-Saharan
Africa Biodiversity Network) initiative which
allows possible collaborations between partners
involved in CABIN and scientists or institutions
located in the whole Subsaharan Africa.
e.g In September 2008, CABIN contributed to the
submission of a proposal for a joint contribution
to an on-line entomological database on
comestible insects with partners based in Benin,
RD Congo and France to the FFI ( Fond
Francophone des Inforoutes/Francophone Fund for
the Inforoute).
Contact persons Charles Kahindo
(ckahindo_at_yahoo.com) Regional TDWG secretary
Patricia Mergen (patricia.mergen_at_africamusem.be)
Promotor CABIN Franck Theeten (franck.theeten_at_afr
icamseum.be) Coordination and implementation RMCA
Biodiversity Information Unit Collaborate to
implementation RMCA ICT and Metafro
Infrastructure support Link http//www.africamus
eum.be/research/zoology/research/zoology/vertebrat
es/SABIN-CABIN/index_html
We are in discussion with the CEDESURK (Centre de
Documentation de l'Enseignement Supérieur,
Universitaire et de la Recherche à Kinshasa) for
the implementation of the project. CEDESURK is a
knowledge centre based at Kinshasa University ,
which is co-funded by the VLIR-UOS (Flemish
Interuniversity Council- Universitary Development
Cooperation) and the CUD (Walloon Universitary
Commission for Development Cooperation). It
organizes IT seminars and training sessions
gathering scientists and technician from
Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian universities and
has the technical infrastructure to host big
databases and publish them on the Internet.
CEDESURK already collaborates with the Geological
and anthropological department of the
RMCA CEDESURK is involved with the telephone
operator Celtel in the Eb_at_lé project which seeks
to connect 9 universities from the Western,
Southern and Eastern part of the Congo (UNIKIN,
FCK, UPN, ISTA UPC in Kinshasa, UL in
Mbanza-Ngungu, UNILU in Lubumbashi, UNIKIS
Kisangani UCB in Bukavu) in a common Internet
network, by using relay stations for cell-phones
as carrier.
Contact with other organizations interest for
geologists
GBIF is an international non-profit organisation
that focuses on making scientific data on
biodiversity available via the Internet using web
services. These webservices are decentralized so
that each contributing institution retains the
full Intellectual property on its data. Some
member countries have nodes at national level
providing the possibilty to host data from
institutions which don't have the technical
infrastructure for publishing their data on the
Internet. One of the aims of CABIN is to set up
in Central Africa a regional node able to connect
data to GBIF and other organisations. In this
prospect, it draws its inspiration from the
methodolgy used by the GBIF during the creation
of its Tanzanian node. In September 2008, the
RMCA also installed a mirror site of the main
GBIF portal, which would be replicated at the
CEDESURK in 2009 or 2010 and form the first step
of CABIN. This website can be reached at
http//gbif.africamuseum.be .
What does this kind of infrastucture can offer to
geologists and conversationists involved in
mining exploitation?

• It offers an interface for geographical searches
  (based on gazetter informations and/or
  geographical coordinates) or chronological
  searches on biodiversity databases disseminated
  across the world, and could provides aid for
  decision making process when creating new mining
  concessions. This information could also help
  scientists and conservationists from Central
  Africa to estimate the information gap data for
  some areas or specific taxas and when determining
  which areas need ecological surveys.
• Contributors to GBIF (such as the HerpNet
  program) also developped methodologies and
  software to manually or semi-automatically infer
  georeferenced data for specimen coming from old
  collections, depending on their metadata and
  field data. Such methodolgies could be be applied
  to old geological collections in order to
  estimate the geographical accuracy of old
  samples or observations.

• The webservices used by GBIF are based on XML
  standards (such as DarwinCore and ABCD). These
  standards feature Geographical extensions which
  could be re-used for geological gazetteer.

GBIF uses a Web Service called TapirLink which is
schema-independant, and could serve XML schemas
for Geological data. CABIN promotors are also
familiar with the Web Map Service (WMS) standard
wich is used by many Geological databases (such
as OneGeology) and could be a possible partners
for the implementation of this kind of software
in Central Africa?
General Structure of the technical implementation
Structure of the portal website
gtTasks and services encompassed within
SABIN/CABIN
Website http//www.africamuseum.be http//www.ubu
ntunet.net/lusaka/ebale2008.pdf
Contact info ckahindo_at_yahoo.com
SABIN_at_africamuseum.be
Symposium The Quest for Natural Resources in
Central Africa. The Case of the Mining Sector in
DRC  Royal Museum for Central Africa, December
8th 9th, 2008