Barcode of Wildlife Project (BoWP) Promises Technology Transfer to Nigerians

The Nigerian scientific community was recently thrilled at the announcement of the capacity development and technology transfer potentials of the Barcode of Wildlife Project (BoWP).

In his goodwill address at the 26^th annual Biotechnology of Nigeria(BSN) workshop 2013, held at the National Biotechnology Development Agency(NABDA)Abuja, Nigeria, the Principal Investigator of the  BoWP and Executive Secretary of the Consortium on the Barcode of Life(CBOL), Mr. David Schindel, assured Nigerians that though, the  BoWP is an international project funded from the United States of America, the project will not take any bio-materials out of Nigeria but would rather engage in capacity and technology transfer within the country.

He outlined three major deliverables of the project as ensuring that more law courts do a better job of investigating wildlife crimes and prosecuting offenders appropriately based on National laws; constructing with the help of Nigerians, a data base and public library  of 10,000 wild species endangered by both domestic and international trade and enabling the Nigerian government and her relevant agencies to adopt the new technology as a means of protecting her Biodiversity .

Schindel, explained that BoWP is one of the Global Impact projects funded by Google Incorporated. Nigeria is one of the six countries of the world benefiting from the project. It is a partnership between Law Enforcement, Biodiversity and Biotechnology to protect biodiversity. For Nigeria, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) is the coordinator of the Project, while the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the National Parks in the country and other Government Agencies relevant in wildlife conservation. 

 The CBOL Executive Secretary described DNA Barcoding as a technology uses small pieces of bio-materials to identify , characterise and document biological components of plant and animal species. In other words this technology enables one to know if a piece of red meat or even species ground to powder is actually from certain stock or is  endangered  or not. He stated that the DNA barcoding is an initiative of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL),of  the Smithsonian Institute of USA and is economically viable for Agricultural growth and biodiversity conservation.