Objectives

Poverty alleviation through Natural Resources Management is hampered by a lack of access to comprehensive interdisciplinary resource overviews for appropriate decision-making. PROTA wants to improve access to interdisciplinary data on the 7,000 useful plants of Tropical Africa as a basis for sustainable ecosystem management and rural development (Core output). PROTA makes the target groups (rural development organizations, vocational training centres, institutions of higher education, research community, policy-makers) aware of immediate opportunities for poverty alleviation (Special output).

Its objectives are:

• Improve communication and information exchange between institutions and research workers in Tropical Africa, in particular on minor plant resources
• Improve access to international literature and publications from neighbouring countries on the plant resources of Tropical Africa
• Substitute single-discipline oriented, nationally or regionally focussed handbooks on the plant resources of Tropical Africa
• Contribute to the availability of base material for education and extension on the lesser-known plant resources.

The activities to meet these objectives are:

• Establishment of an operational network involving key institutions in Tropical Africa, for data compilation, data exchange and dissemination; strengthening of cooperation between scientists through co-editorship and co-authorship for the PROTA review articles
• Establishment of an Electronic Databank with PROTA Review Articles (ultimately 7,000) in English and French, literature, illustration material and maps; assure wide and easy access on-line and off-line (CD-Rom)
• Publication of an up-to-date multivolume Handbook on 7,000 plant resources of Tropical Africa, covering all aspects of existing knowledge, compiled with the cooperation of hundreds of specialists as authors and editors
• Publication of ‘Special Products’ dealing per commodity group with the according Candidate technologies, Development gaps, Research gaps, Thesis subjects, Conservation needs and Policy measures.

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