The National Museum of Natural History, in association with the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium and GBIF International, has launched a capacity building program for the benefit of seven French-speaking African countries and many other partner countries of Belgium and many other partner countries of Belgium, including Burkina Faso.

The objective of this approach is to:

- train the CHM — GBIF national focal points in the full use of the new Bioland tool;

- support them in the technical transition to the new Bioland tool;

- train them to acquire data on biodiversity;

- facilitate the interoperability of CHM and GBIF tools and create synergies.

The idea of this mechanism is to create, through an Internet platform, a space for exchanging information on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Each Party is invited to present its achievements, which allows for a training phenomenon, encourages everyone to do the same and facilitates opportunities for the cooperation and participation of different types of knowledge.

This provisional program is a follow-up to the previous workshop held in Brussels for 5 days in October 2019. The following points were discussed: Introduction and presentation of the technical characteristics of Bioland; access to data and publication of GBIF data and synergies between CBD and GBIF. The Bioland tool was presented and practical exercises were carried out.

The second workshop in October 2020, which brings together 21 participants, replaces the one originally planned in Cotonou in March 2020, cancelled due to health crises, is being held online for the first session on October 6, 2020. Its objective is to train in the use of the GBIF module and the Bioland tool, in particular the loading of information and the integration of data, thus strengthening exchanges between the CHM and GBIF communities.