Drylands: Africa
SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS (2001-2005)
- Thirty Herbarium field collecting trips made to S and E Africa
- A DNA bank set up at the South African National Biodiversity Institute with over 4,000 DNA extracts shared with Kew; students and staff trained in DNA banking and molecular phylogenetics
- Named 14,000 specimens for drylands Africa (approximately 2,500–3,000 specimens p.a.) for a wide range of institutes and individuals
- Increased African involvement (authors or co-authors) in Floras: 48 Flora parts published with 2,964 species; online access to Flora Zambesiaca with 6,350 species; first two field guides produced; XVIIth AETFAT Proceedings prepared and edited
- Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database substantially updated for over 800 African species resulting in more complete data sets available to users; SEPASAL regional nodes established in Kenya (2002) and Namibia (2004) and local staff fully trained in use of SEPASAL database and Taxonomic Database Working Group (TDWG) standards
- African Wild Harvest project established, to promote the conservation and sustainable use of traditional food plants; pilot project underway in western Kenya
- Sixteen S and E African region students from ten Drylands Africa countries trained at Kew on various courses, plus three courses with over 50 participants run in Kenya and Uganda, with collaboration by Kew staff; eight PhD students and one postdoc supervised
- Millennium Seed Bank collaborative projects in nine countries in SubSaharan Africa; signing of long term Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements with eight African countries including six in our area (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa); focusing on ex situ conservation through seed and herbarium collections, joint research and capacity building
- Compound with potent antioxidant activity isolated from the waste product of olives in Tunisia as part of our research into the sustainable use of plant-derived products. The results were published in a journal with an impact factor of 2.102.
KEY ELEMENTS OF FUTURE PLANS (2006 onwards)
- Continue improving the quality and coverage of our collections through targeted collecting/fieldwork, in areas that are under-collected and/or of high conservation interest; and for plant groups that are under-represented
- Improve further the accessibility of species and specimen data, especially for overseas partners and conservation organisations, including African Plant Initiative collaboration
- Improve our links with sister institutes in Africa, through training colleagues, joint fieldwork, and joint publications
- Complete the Floras (both Flora of Tropical East Africa and Flora Zambesiaca) and build on them by producing field guides in user-friendly format, as well as conservation checklists; publish both Floras online
- Millennium Seed Bank to collect some 6,000 species in the six African dryland countries, concentrating on gaps in taxonomic and geographical coverage; and to prepare preliminary conservation assessments for 3,000 species, followed by full IUCN Red List assessments once these plants have been located in the field
- Continue to develop the African focus of SEPASAL by strengthening existing links with partner nodes and seeking opportunities to develop new partnerships. Comprehensive, fully referenced data sets to be available online for 600 Namibian species by end of 2006 and more than 1,500 East African species by end of 2007.
- Continue to host the UK Country Office of PROTA; provide ongoing input into PROTA’s databases and publications
- Contribute to an African-led database on the anti-tuberculosis activity of plants
- Assist in the development of “health” gardens in Grahamstown, South Africa as part of the Darwin Initiative project to support the sustainable production of food and medicinal plants
- Continue to research alternative uses of plant-derived products and increase the diversity of species being used and cultivated sustainably
- Continue to develop the project DNA Banking, Phylogeny, and Conservation of the South African Flora by expanding its research activities to include DNA barcoding, ecological modelling and other components for practical conservation outcomes
- Continue to work with Kenyan institutes and communities to expand the African Wild Harvest project, to include a toolkit for the conservation of indigenous knowledge for sustainable use of traditional food plants; to facilitate the communities in publication of their indigenous knowledge relating to traditional food plants; and to assist communities in developing their own seed resources