Privacy policy

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On this page

On this page we explain how we handle your (personal) data.

Who manages the Vespa-Watch website?

The Vespa-Watch website is managed by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO).

What data do we manage?

  1. Web pages, images and documents, offered via https://vespawatch.be.
  2. Reports of nests of Asian hornet, offered via https://nesten.vespawatch.be.
  3. Reports of individuals of Asian hornet.

Only the reports can contain your (personal) data.

What happens with my data?

Your data are reports of nests and individuals of Asian hornet. A report consists of:

  • Non-personal data (location, date, photos, etc.).
  • Personal data (name, email and/or telephone number of the reporter).

We process these reports as follows:

  1. To collect reports, we make use of the platform Waarnemingen.be since June 2024. This platform has its own privacy policy.
  2. After validation on Waarnemingen.be, the reports of nests of Asian hornet are automatically retrieved and saved in the Vespa-Watch database (Vespa-DB).
  3. We aim to remove reports with incorrect, inappropriate or sensitive information. This may involve reports with incorrect locations, copyrighted photos taken from the web, etc.
  4. The non-personal data of reports are publicly available via https://nesten.vespawatch.be.

In order to protect the environment, for scientific purposes and in line with the INBO open data policy, we also make non-personal data from the reports available as open data under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. These can therefore appear on other websites (such as GBIF), in a raw or derived form.

The Vespa-Watch database also contains reports from sources other than Waarnemingen.be (such as iAsset, iNaturalist, data provided by third parties). These are treated in the same way as described above.

What happens with my personal data?

Your personal data includes the contact details (name, e-mail and/or telephone number) that you enter when reporting a nest or individual of Asian hornet.

Your personal data will only be used in the context of eradicating Asian hornet. For this purpose, your personal data will be accessible to:

  • Persons who manage Waarnemingen.be.
  • Persons who validate reports on Waarnemingen.be.
  • Persons who manage the Vespa-Watch database (Vespa-DB).
  • Persons with an account on the Vespa-Watch database, such as professional eradiators, municipalities and provinces. Their access is limited to the municipalities where they operate.

Your personal data will not be used for other applications, will not be shared with third parties not mentioned above and will not be shared publicly.