Information requirements arising out of the Biodiversity Economy Lab

Information requirements arising out of the

Biodiversity Economy Lab

John Donaldson, SANBI

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• Joint initiative of Depts of Tourism and Environmental Affairs

• Aim is to unlock the potential of the Biodiversity Economy and make the most of South Africa’s unique biodiversity

• Three areas being developed

• Builds on the Biodiversity Economy Strategy published in November 2015

Coastal & Marine Tourism

Bioprospecting Wildlife Economy

What is the Biodiversity Lab?

Recognises South Africa’s wealth of biodiversity Builds on countries unique biodiversity

Involves multiple stakeholders

Information Needs

Planning

Implementation

Monitoring & Evaluation

Adaptive management

Government

Private Sector

Communities Support services

AC

TIV

ITIE

S

USER GROUPS

Baseline/

Where to focus resources

How to respond to change

Where to invest/ what products

How to produce products

What products to focus on

Progress

Spatial data biodiversity, land reform, development potential

Requires socio-ecological information at different scales and for use by different sectors

How to respond to change/ alternatives

Monitoring data, systems knowledge

Improve-ments

Site specific information

Growth of investment, contribution to transformation

Social & ecological metrics

Tools for specific investments

Optimal deployment of resources

Priority Issues • Baseline is poorly known, e.g. how many game

farms, where are they, whats on them? • Information needs to be collated and verified

Baseline data

InformationGaps

• Information gaps will be linked to research programmes

Barriers to Big, Fast Results

• Priority will be given to information needs to achieve rapid transformation results

Information systems

• Need to be appropriate for different user groups (e.g. government, investors, farmers, tour operators)

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THANK YOU