Paper short abstract:

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Paper long abstract:

Co-authors:Ruth Adeka, Staline Kibet, Maryam Imbumi, Patrick Maundu (SEPASAL Node, National Museums of Kenya)

Documenting and disseminating information on plants is a major part of the scientific work of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Documenting the uses of African dryland plants is a focus of the work of SEPASAL (Survey of Economic Plants of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands). Started at Kew in the early 1980s the database contains information on the uses and use-related properties of more than 6500 plant species. Improving the delivery of scientific information to support conservation and sustainable use is a key aim in Kew’s Corporate Plan. To this end, SEPASAL was made available on the internet in 1999. In addition, African institutions have identified the need to document locally held information and develop science capacity to meet conservation and sustainable use objectives, and have formed close partnerships with Kew to assist the knowledge building process. Two regional SEPASAL nodes have been established with partners in Kenya and Namibia. The paper examines the increase in use of SEPASAL and experience to date at the first regional node set up in 2002 at the Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK), National Museums of Kenya, and examines the uses to which the data have been put in Kenya.