ParColl

Although the erosion of biodiversity and climate change constitute the main threat facing humanity, data inventories of biodiversity and access to them are still too partial and fragmentary. However, these inventories are an essential and necessary basis for the development of effective conservation policies. The aim of this response to the AAP MRSEI 2023 call for projects is to constitute a network of partners from Northern and Southern countries in order to respond to a European/international project. In the context of colonial and post-colonial history (late 19th-early 21st century), the aim of this European/international project is to study biodiversity over a long period of time in order to support current conservation policies in southern countries. We seek to create an interdisciplinary tool connecting natural material (plant and animal) to all related scientific, economic or cultural productions, usable by different professional communities (academic world, civil society, etc.). In this sense, it goes beyond previous database approaches as well as those of environmental history. To achieve this, we propose to interconnect all available data (different taxonomic groups) whatever their sources (herbaria, museums, colonial museums, archives of colonial administrations, private archives/collections, annals, etc.), to analyze them (raw data, deduced/interpreted data, complementary data, etc.) and recontextualize them on the basis of an interdisciplinary reading (natural sciences, social sciences and historians) bringing together researchers from South and North countries. In addition to the issue of accessibility and ownership of data for countries in the South, the project aims at the co-construction of knowledge and heritage creation by researchers in both North and South countries. Consequently, this project proposes: 1/ to inventory and digitize the collections and associated sources; 2/ to cross-reference the sources and undertake an interdisciplinary reading in order to contextualize these collections: 3/ to make them accessible (collections, data, related data) for the countries of the South, and finally 4/ to reflect on a heritage-focused approach to deploy and in particular what computer-based tools in the humanities could offer in terms of accessibility, different perspectives and sharing. To carry out this project successfully, it is necessary to establish a network of actors who are complementary from the disciplinary and geographical points of view. In the context of our project, these are actors from Northern and Southern countries. In both cases, irrespective of disciplines and geographical origin, our project will involve academic (laboratories, universities, schools) and non-academic (archive centers, private partners, etc.) actors. Contacts have been made with the various partners in France and abroad; other partners are still to be contacted or identified.