Pl@ntNet in Gabon: participatory science in action with One Forest Vision

Co-hosted by two renowned tropical botanists - Daniel Barthélémy (CIRAD) and Murielle Simo-Droissart (IRD) - the session brought together 46 participants, including botanists, technicians, researchers and students representing 16 institutions, including the Institut de Recherche Agronomique et Forestière (IRAF), Institut de Recherche en Écologie Tropicale (IRET), Institut de Pharmacopée et de Médecine Traditionnelle (IPHAMETRA/HNG), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN), Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (USTM), Université Omar Bongo (UOB), Association pour le Devenir des Autochtones et de leur Connaissance Originelle (ADACO), the non-profit association Nature+, the École Nationale des Eaux et Forêts (ENEF), the Gabon Special Economic Zone (GSEZ), the consultancy firms Biotope and TEREA, the company Toujours Vert and the Ministry of National Education, Civic Instruction and Vocational Training. 

The aim was to :

• Training in the rigorous use of the Pl@ntNet application, in particular for its deployment on the 8 OFVi supersites
• Involve scientists, teachers and the general public in a collaborative approach to increase knowledge of local flora.

A well-received collective dynamic

The theoretical session, organised at CENAREST, enabled participants to download the application and create their user account, familiarise themselves with the platform's web and mobile interfaces, and understand best practice for taking photos useful for artificial intelligence.

The field day at the Arboretum was an opportunity to test the application in practice.

Participant testimonials confirm the value of the tool

• "This application is beneficial for me. It will enable me to insert data on species or identify those I don't know about, in order to enrich my database" - Davy Ngueba Ikapi, doctoral student at the USTM
• "I work in pharmacology. To do this, I need to list therapeutic plants, hence the need to identify them. Before Pl@ntNet came along, we had to do a lot of “reading”, but thanks to the application, we now have a better idea of how to go about identifying them" - Laurie Laine Ngoma, doctoral student at the USTM.

Murielle Simo-Droissart points out that "the application is collaborative: it learns from each user. What you identify benefits others, and vice versa."

One of Pl@ntNet's major assets is its offline mode (known as ‘embedded mode’), which has enabled users at the Raponda Walker Arboretum to compare their images with those already validated in the application, without an Internet connection - a particularly useful option in remote areas.
 "You download the regional data for West Central Tropical Africa and you can identify plants even in the forest", explains Murielle Simo-Droissart.

In all, more than 500 observations belonging to almost 120 species were shared at the end of the 4-day training course.

For Donald Midoko Iponga, researcher at IRET/CENAREST and supervisor of studies conducted at the Ipassa super site, "PlantNet does not replace systematists, but complements them. In Gabon, less than a third of plant species have been identified. So we need tools like this to make progress."

This collective dynamic, at the crossroads of research, innovation and citizen involvement, is fully in line with the ambitions of One Forest Vision: to make knowledge a lever for sustainable conservation, for the benefit of future generations.

"There are many, many species, but not many people to study them. We know the species, of course, but the number of species that need to be documented, photographed, located, studied in their environment... is considerable. And that's where tools like Pl@ntNet can make a real difference, by mobilising a wider community around this immense task of knowledge", explains Daniel Barthélémy in his interview with RFI.

Press review

The presence of media such as RFI, Gabon24, Gabon Première, Radio Gabon, Gabon Média Time, Gabon Review and Gabon Actu testifies to a growing interest in promoting science in the service of biodiversity.

External links to television reports/articles :

À la recherche des trésors botaniques des forêts du Gabon (RFI)

GABON ENVIRONNEMENT : PLANTNET, LA NOUVELLE APPLICATION POUR IDENTIFIER LA FLORE (Gabon24)

Gabon : PlantNet, une application pour l’identification des plantes (GabonMédiaTime)

Pl@ntNet au cœur de la forêt gabonaise : une application pour reconnaître les plantes et impliquer les citoyens (Gabon Review)

Pl@ntNet au Gabon : l’intelligence artificielle au service de la forêt (GabonActu)

Pl@ntNet : Innovation et Biodiversité au Gabon (Agence Gabonaise Presse)