Training on biodiversity data publishing - Department of Ecosystems and Conservation

The training is directed at students undertaking MSc. Ecosystems Science and Management, and MSc. Forestry in the Department of Ecosystems and Conservation of the Sokoine University of Agriculture.

The objective of this practical training was to provide students with the three main topics (i) the biodiversity data publishing options based on Darwin Core Archives, spreadsheets, the GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit, and others; (ii) how to build data discovery and publishing strategies and action plans; and (iii) data quality and fitness-for-use.

Students of the two programmes MSc. Ecosystems Science and Management, and MSc. Forestry are actively involved in monitoring and managing biodiversity data of various ecosystems of Tanzania. Therefore, this training focus on data publishing, in particular checklist, species occurrences, and sample-based and citizen science data. The training includes a practical session during which participants are assisted by experienced trainers from the Department of Ecosystems and Conservation.

This training is offered under the CONTAN project. The CONTAN project is an Erasmus + Capacity-building project in the field of higher education “Developing curricula for biodiversity monitoring and conservation in Tanzania”. The Project Partners in the EU: University of Florence, (coordinator), MUSE – Science museum, University of Copenhagen, and the University of Bayreuth. Partners in Tanzania: the Sokoine University of Agriculture, University of Dar es Salaam, and College of African Wildlife Management.