Biotik Launching Ceremony, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
An application launching ceremony of Biotik was held on 8th November 2007 at Novotel, Vientiane, Lao PDR to publicize the results of the project's activities in Lao PDR.
Dr. Bouakhaykhone Svengsuksa, Botanist, National University of Laos welcomed the participants who mainly consisted of botanists, ICT experts, para taxonomists from the Department of Forests and Agriculture and students.
Mr. Francesco Straniero, Representative of the Delegation of the European Commission in LAO PDR delivered the opening address and outlined the significance of the European Union's various programs targeted towards Asia. He lauded the outcomes of the actions like Biotik and wished the project continues to be a fruitful initiative for Lao PDR.
Dr. Juliana Prosperi, CIRAD presented the activities of the Biotik project in Lao PDR along with Dr. Bouakhaykhone Svengsuksa. They together presented the areas covered under the project, the tree species collected and gave a demonstration of the Biotik tree species identification system. Dr. Pierre GRARD, Project Manager presented a perspective view of the action in the context for biodiversity conservation in Lao PDR and emphasized the need to develop such tools based on ICTs which would have tremendous impact on the facilitation of conservation efforts and building a taxonomic knowledge corpus.
Dr. Paul Kessler, Director of Botanical Garden, Leiden thanked the gathering and noted that the efforts will continue to enrich the database of trees in Lao PDR.
