An assessment of the taxonomic support Ghana needs for sustainable development and conservation.

The project (January 06 – August 07)
The Programme of Work of the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) calls for national, regional and global taxonomic needs assessments. Ghana’s third national report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) highlighted the urgency for this at the national level.

Therefore, the Ghanaian Taxonomic Needs Assessment Project in support of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development was inaugurated during the Conference of Parties to the CBD (COP8) in March 2006 in Curitiba, Brazil. Project partners are the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghana (CSIR Ghana), BioNET-WAFRINET (Ghana), BioNET-INTERNATIONAL and the Natural History Museum, London (NHM), with support from the WSSD Implementation Fund (WIF) of the UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Approach
In line with the BioNET / NHM approach, the focus of the project lies in working with stakeholders who use taxonomic products and expertise to describe their taxonomic needs, especially in relation to their commitments under the Convention of Biological Diversity. The UK has carried out an assessment of this type (UK Taxonomic Needs Assessment) and the support provided by Defra allows the experience gained in the UK to be shared with Ghana, and applied for the first time to a less industrialised country.

Taxonomy for development and biodiversity conservation
Taxonomic expertise, research, information and services contribute to sustainable development in a myriad of ways. See case studies.

Purpose
The project will provide the Government of Ghana and key stakeholders with a clear priority analysis of the taxonomic needs of biodiversity-related sectors in the country. Thus, the results can be used to integrate taxonomic priorities into government policies, and will help target the work of in-country taxonomic institutes on identified needs.