National User Workshops

National User Workshops were not originally seen as a project activity. However, the need has arisen from the evaluation process. A series of national workshops of providers and users of botanical information need to be organised to address user needs in future. This should form an integral part of the Exit Strategy. Following national workshops, a regional synthesis should be carried out, which can include a regional workshop. The synthesis would determine the following at a regional level:

Who are major users of botanical information?

What sort of information do they require?

In what format do they require this information?

How can any future botanical project address this at either a national or regional level?

Should a future project be regional or national?

The following recommendations were made:

Funds should be made available under the remainder of the present project to carry out a national workshop in each participating country. These workshops would comprise, at minimum, representatives of the following providers and users: herbarium staff, National Biodiversity Focal Point, Ministry of Environment (or similar), government/parastatal conservation agencies (National Parks, Forestry), university botany/forestry departments (teaching and research), persons carrying out vegetation surveys or ecological assessments, international conservation NGOs (WWF, IUCN, etc.), national conservation NGOs (wildlife societies, etc.), environmental consultants and consulting companies, traditional plant users, organisations concerned with botany (Tree Society, Botanical Society), amateur botanists, and visitors to gardens (Friends of Gardens, etc.).

The output from the workshops should be a brief, but clear indication of users, botanical information required, the format in which this is required, and priorities. These workshops should be carried out before the end of the current project so that results obtained can be used either to assist in getting funding for national botanical projects, or to assist in leveraging regional funding.

National workshops must be followed by a synthesis of information from the national workshops. The synthesis (which could be carried out in a workshop format, or by a consultant followed by national peer review) should be aimed at determining what, at a regional level, the major botanical information requirements are.

This process should be funded by and take place under the auspices of SABONET. It should be directed at leveraging future funding for botanical institutions. Representatives of all participating countries should be encouraged to participate in the process.


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