GBIF DEMONSTRATION PROJECT: Promotion of GBIF, expansion of GBIF membership and catalyzation of fundraising efforts

The proposed Demonstration Project aims at producing functional demonstration web services of GBIF and demonstrates how end-users will benefit from accessing intuitive and interactive interfaces. The services and the specimen/collection data will use novel internet-based data handling procedures and will take into account the data basing and data access standards developed by GBIF and GBIF Participants (ENBI, BioCASE, etc.). It will be based on existing regional biodiversity information systems in Asia, Europe and Latin America and the inclusion and linking of new datasets of primary data in new and innovative ways. These regional information systems integrate biological and spatial information derived from databases consisting of existing sets of specimen and observational data. The datasets include museum specimen data and large observational datasets collected by environmental authorities and individual scientists. The data used will be openly and freely available to all users and all tools developed during the Project will also be freely and openly available.

The end-users of GBIF services include, among others, decision-makers, governmental institutions, the private sector, NGOs and the international scientific and conservation community. The Demonstration Project will help potential end-users to fully understand that species and specimen data are critically needed, and will also demonstrate how they are linked to ecosystem-level datasets.

The regional information systems and biodiversity web services that are being considered in the Demonstration Project are currently operational and cover the Amazonian region of the Andean Community (SIAMAZONIA and WAGIS), the Asia-Europe Forest and Forest Conservation Platform (ASEMFOREST) and the Finnish regional biodiversity web service LOUNAISPAIKKA, linked to the European Network on Biodiversity Information Programme (ENBI). These regional information systems have geo-referenced specimen data on a wide array of organisms, including birds, mammals, several arthropod groups and vascular plants, including data sets on tropical tree species. The Demonstration Project will further promote the inclusion of new specimen and species data in these systems.

The Demonstration Project to be executed by Biota BD Oy in collaboration with the University of Turku and the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazon consists of the following five components:

• Component 1: Develop internet-based tools for linking collections and observational databases to interactive map services.
• Component 2: Link scientific and popular bio-geographic literature references to interactive map services.
• Component 3: Promote GBIF and the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) at the Regional symposium on specimen data, biodiversity information and decision-making under the auspices of the Andean Community (Comunidad Andina).
• Component 4: Promote GBIF as a tool in the conservation and sustainable use of forests (attend the Regional symposium of Europe-Asia Meeting, ASEM organization).
• Component 5: Develop new datasets of primary data and link them in new and innovative ways.

The symposium proposed in Component 3 is being organized and funded under the BIODAMAZ project (Finnish-Peruvian development cooperation), and has been scheduled for October 2003. It is envisaged that Andean Community Senior officers in biodiversity management will attend as well as national institutions participating in the GTI programme. Likewise for Component 4, key Asian countries will be invited to join the specific session on GBIF and GTI organized as part of the ASEMFOREST meeting in November 2003.

In concluding, the OCB Demonstration Project aims at supporting the overall GBIF Work and focuses on ways how the use of species and specimen level data and information (as defined in the DADI, ECAT and DIGIT programmes) could catalyze the interest of both developed and developing countries in GBIF. It will also highlight GBIF’s relevance and usefulness for decision-making, and will assist countries and institutions in their fund-raising efforts.

The project will commence in June 2003 and will conclude 31 January 2004.