Operational objective 2. Provide focus to help build and maintain the systems and infrastructure needed to obtain, collate and curate the biological specimens that are the basis for taxonomic knowledge

Release date	14/02/2006

5. Is your country working to strengthen global and regional capacity building to support access to and generation of taxonomic information ?
a) No (please specify the reasons)
b) no, but some programmes under development
c) yes, limited capacity building (please provide details)
d) yes, significant capacity building (please provide details)	X

Further comments on global and regional capacity building to support access to and generation of taxonomic information

Regional capacity building (EU-funded): 

• Support access to taxonomic information/collections: 
  • European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI).
  • SYNTHESYS. SYNTHESYS integrates former programmes that granted access to national collections, including ABC (Access to Belgian Collections, 2001-2004) at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
• Support generation of taxonomic information: most EU-funded projects include a capacity-building component. For details, see responses to questions 6 and 8-14.

For a more complete description of the projects and processes mentioned in this answer, please go to the box 'additional information' at the end of the report.

Global capacity building:

• Support access to taxonomic information/collections:
  • ABIC (African Biodiversity Information Centre), by the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Grants for scientific study visits, for pre-doctoral candidates and recognised taxonomy experts. Operational start in 2001.
  • DGDC-RBINS capacity building project, by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Grants for scientific study visits for professionals ranging from technicians & parataxonomists to experts. Funding also available for visits to the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the National Botanic Garden. Operational start in 2004.

  Both projects are funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation. Since 2004, they are developing synergies. 
  

• Support generation of taxonomic information:
  • The Belgian Development Cooperation funds universities, via the Flemish and French Community Interuniversity Councils (VLIR and CIUF), to carry out research projects on biodiversity in developing countries. Some of these research projects include a taxonomic component. 
  • The VLIR and CIUF offer scholarships to participate in international courses (MSc level) held in Belgium. These scholarships are available for developing country applicants. VLIR also provides PhD scholarships to promising graduates of its international courses. Both VLIR and CIUF offer travel bursaries for Belgian and European students registered at a Flemish and French-speaking universities for travel to a developing country. For all these programmes, topics do not exclude taxonomy but there must be a strong developmental component.
  • The Belgian Science Policy Office finances bilateral cooperation projects with Central and Eastern European countries and a few other countries such as China. Some of these projects have a taxonomic component.
  • The Belgian Science Policy Office finances the Belgian contribution to GBIF, which includes a capacity-building component. 
  • The 'Belgian Coordinated Collection of Micro-organisms' (BCCM) provides capacity building for micro-organisms, through bilateral contract agreements and research projects (e.g. with China).
    
• Support the training of taxonomists:
  • The DGDC-RBINS capacity building project gives grantees training in taxonomy and collection management.
  • ABIC (African Biodiversity Information Centre), by the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Grants for specialised training sessions (3 months) in various taxonomic groups. Operational start in 2001.
  • FishBase by the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Grants for training in the taxonomy of African freshwater fishes and the use of FishBase. Starting from 2005, five trainees for three months each year.
  • The VLIR and CIUF receive funding from the Belgian Development Cooperation to develop international courses (usually 1 year), international training programmes (usually 1 to 6 months) and short training initiatives (5 days to 2 weeks). Some of these training initiatives specifically targets taxonomy. Examples include the Postgraduate International Nematology Course organised by the Ghent University (http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~nsmol/pinc.htm); the MSc in Ecological Marine Management organised by the Free University of Brussels VUB and University of Antwerp (http://www.ecomama.be/); the MSc in Aquaculture organised by the Universities of Liège and Namur (http://www.ulg.ac.be/aacad/prog-cours/sciences/FSCDESIntAqua.html). 
  • The 'Belgian Coordinated Collection of Micro-organisms' (BCCM) provides individual and group training sessions on micro-organisms.

6. Is your country working with other countries to create and/or strengthen the networks for regional cooperation in taxonomy?
a) No
b) no, but consultation is under way
c) no, but some plans and programmes are under development
d) yes, some activities undertaken for this purpose (please provide details)
e) yes, comprehensive activities undertaken for this purpose (please provide details)	X

Further comments on strengthening of existing networks for regional cooperation in taxonomy

At the European level, there is a multitude of networking initiatives. Belgian institutions took part / currently take part in those listed below. 

European networks with a major taxonomic component:

• Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF)
• Synthesis of systematic resources (SYNTHESYS)
• Species 2000 Europe

European networks on access to biodiversity collections/data:

• European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI)
• Biodiversity Collection Access Service for Europe (BIOCASE)
• European Nature Information System (EUNIS) 

European networks with a thematic focus:

• Fauna Europaea (FauEu)
• Implementation and networking of large-scale long-term marine biodiversity research in Europe (BIOMARE)
• Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MARBEF)
• Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI)
• European Biological Resource Centres Network (EBRCN)
• Creating a long term infrastructure for marine biodiversity research in the European economic area and the newly associated states (MARBENA)

For a more complete description of the projects and processes mentioned in this answer, please go to the box 'additional information' at the end of the report.