Guide training in Ipassa – Ivindo National Park

The second training session on how to use the Pl@ntNet application took place in Gabon from 21 to 30 January 2026. Following the training received in Libreville in May 2025, guides from the IRET/CENAREST research station in Ipassa (near Makokou) in Ivindo National Park benefited from four days of practical training provided by Daniel Barthélémy from CIRAD and Murielle Simo-Droissart from IRD. This provided an opportunity to document the site's flora on the platform, after verifying the identifications using the reference collections housed in the station's herbarium.

Training at the Masuku University of Science and Technology (USTM) – Franceville

The days of 26 and 27 January were devoted to theoretical and practical training for around sixty participants, students and teachers at the Masuku University of Science and Technology (USTM) in Franceville, most of whom were affiliated with the National Institute of Agronomy and Biotechnology (INSAB), the Faculty of Sciences, and the Doctoral School of Applied Fundamental Sciences.

Field trip to Lengori

The field trip organised on 28 January in the town of Lengori, east of Franceville, provided further information about the region's flora on the platform. The two USTM students who accompanied us were able to collect herbarium specimens of the plants photographed, but their identification still needs to be verified before the observations can be shared on the platform.

Results and satisfaction indicators

A satisfaction questionnaire comprising nine closed questions was completed by the 60 participants attending the training sessions in Franceville. Almost all participants were satisfied with the training (47% very satisfied and 48% satisfied) and intend to use it in their professional and personal activities (80% regularly and 18% occasionally). In addition, 85% of participants would definitely recommend the Pl@ntNet app to their networks, while the rest would probably do so. During this second training session in Gabon, 59 Pl@ntNet accounts were created and 395 observations corresponding to 168 species were shared on the platform.

Debate at the French Institute in Gabon

As part of a debate organised by Professor Matthieu Fau-Nougaret's team, University Cooperation Attaché for the Cultural and Social Action Department of the French Embassy, the platform was presented at the French Institute in Gabon in the late afternoon of 29 January. During the discussions, the diverse audience learned about all the features of Pl@ntNet and the need to create a user account to take full advantage of them.

Awareness raising at Blaise Pascal High School

The platform was then presented on 30 January, in the early afternoon, to class representatives (secondary school pupils) and Life and Earth Sciences teachers at the Blaise Pascal secondary school in Libreville. The teachers, some of whom were already familiar with or even using the application, were able to create an account and/or explore the application within the school. They plan to integrate it into their future lessons to teach botany in a fun way in schools.