Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL)

Data being entered into SEPASAL at the National Museums of Kenya, the first of two SEPASAL nodes established in 2002. Photo: Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya.

SEPASAL, the world’s most comprehensive online source of information on useful ‘wild’ and semi-domesticated tropical and subtropical dryland plants, began in 1981 with the intention of becoming a “world-wide data bank on economic plants, bringing together scattered published information … into a usable source of information”. SEPASAL documents uses and related properties approximately 7000 species.  Data are recorded using Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG standards) (e.g. on uses, distribution) and in other searchable data fields (e.g. environmental data), supplemented by extensive free-text notes. Individual data items are referenced wherever possible.

SEPASAL went ‘live’ on the internet in 1999. Users register once, then have free access. They include international aid and development organisations, government departments and NGOs engaged in sustainable use and conservation programmes. SEPASAL is also used to identify target species for germplasm collection in the Millennium Seed Bank Project.

The internet has brought a step change to data accessibility and dissemination. For example, in 1995 (pre-internet), 63 reports were prepared by staff in response to enquiries, whereas over 1,000 species data sheets are downloaded by external users of SEPASAL's web interface annually. Since 2002, summary information from SEPASAL has also been available via ePIC.  SEPASAL staff continue to respond to enquiries on dryland species from individuals and NGOs who may not have ready access to the internet, or where more specialist information (requiring further library research) is required.

SEPASAL at Kew cannot, on its own, realise the goal of providing all data on all uses of tropical dryland plants.  However, SEPASAL nodes in Africa (the main focus of SEPASAL’s work) at the National Museums of Kenya (established in 2002) and the National Botanical Research Institute of Namibia (2004), demonstrate the potential of such partnerships for expanding data capture and regional dissemination.  Using Global Editing software, developed at Kew to enable remote users to edit and contribute data to SEPASAL, local staff are employed at the nodes to assist with data research, validation and input, and to provide direct lines of communication with local conservation and development organisations (e.g. Bioversity International and Millennium Seed Bank partners in Kenya and Namibia, and Centre for Research Information Action in Africa (CRIAA) in Namibia), schools (e.g. Arya High School in Nairobi), farmers, and community groups.  As a result of collaborations with Kenya and Namibia, information on 800 Namibian and 1000 East African species have been updated recently. Links with PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa), for which SEPASAL is a data source, ensure that text-based PROTA species overviews can supplement the detail provided by SEPASAL and vice-versa. To access SEPASAL go to http://apps.kew.org/sepasalweb/sepaweb

Funding is currently being sought to update SEPASAL's web interface and editing software, and to enable continuation and developement of existing partnerships and expansion of the node network.