Virtual Construction of Central Asia’s Plant Life

Central Asia’s valuable botanical collections—which are currently available only in herbaria and mostly located in respective capitals—are soon going to be accessible to the wider public via an internet database.

Eleven visiting scholars from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan are taking part in a weeklong workshop in Greifswald, Germany, to mark the occasion. The goal of the workshop is to provide its participants with the knowledge of how to catalog herbarium specimens on the internet.

The key resource being utilized is a database developed at the University of Greifswald, which already provides online access to information about the flora of Mongolia. Over the medium term, data about specimens stored in the herbaria are expected to be published for all plant species occurring in the region. Among the specimens currently stored in the herbaria are findings from research expeditions to Central Asia dating back almost 200 years. These include herbarium specimens collected by such German botanists as Schrenk, Lehmann, or Riegel.

The CADI-project supports the development of the digital herbaria in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, while simultaneously supporting botanists from Uzbekistan through a project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Both projects are being effectuated by the Michael Succow Foundation in cooperation with the University of Greifswald.

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CADI Fellowship: Call for applications 2018 – deadline 30 June!

CADI Fellowship contributes to one of the outputs of CADI project – the generation, application, and dissemination of knowledge on ecosystem services, biodiversity, conservation status and land-use of temperate deserts in Central Asia. Target groups are post-graduate senior scientists from China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The fellows are supposed to work on a subject of their own choice according to the project aim and related outputs, supported by the project partners.

The fellowship program is coordinated by the Michael Succow Foundation in close cooperation with the University of Greifswald. Within the 12-month period of the program, a longer study visit to Greifswald is foreseen. Further information about CADI Fellowship you can find here.

The application deadline for CADI Fellowship is 30 June 2018. The fellowship will start on 1 October 2018.

Call for applications

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FAO Vacancy Announcement: CADI National Project Coordinator Uzbekistan

The FAO has announced a vacancy for the position of a National Project Coordinator (NPC). The NPC will be responsible for the coordination, implementation and evaluation of FAO work packages within CADI in Uzbekistan.

The position will be located in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Deadline for applications: 15 February 2018

Vacancy announcement

 

 

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Survey for development of communication strategy started

CADI project has launched a survey for the development of communication strategy. The questionnaire includes issues about SWOT-analysis regarding research, sustainable land-use, conservation of temperate deserts of central Asia as well as regional cooperation. Respondents are also welcome to identify target groups and major communicational channels.

The poll is focused on the residents of Central Asia and available in Russian before January 15, 2018, here.

Gained information will be used for the identification of the most efficient methods of communication.

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CADI at Klaus Toepfer Fellowship alumni meeting

CADI was presented during the second alumni reunion of the Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme (KTFP) on the 1st of October in Berlin in front of future leaders in Nature Conservation from countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme aims to strengthen organisations from the nature conservation sector in the region, by developing the personal capacity of early-career conservation professionals to overcoming global biodiversity loss. The training programme catalyzes personal capacity development through training on international best conservation practice and policy, management training, and personal network development.

The discussion afterwards gave some ideas and insights how to implement CADI in the region, especially in Iran and Mongolia.

We appreciate German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) for supporting to make the presentation about CADI for KTFP alumni.

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