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The World Bank's Board approved the "GEF
Trust Fund Grant to the Organization of American States - Building the
Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN)" on June 29th,
2004. It was previously approved by the GEF Chief Executive Officer. IABIN
will receive $6 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) towards
the $35-million, 5-year implementation project. (The Project Implementation
Plan that is the basis for this grant may be found at the IABIN web site.)
Co-financing of $28.9 million has been identified from 76 regional or
national institutions and programs. Agreements with the primary
biodiversity informatics institutions throughout the Americas were forged
based on data-sharing priorities of these institutions and mandates from
the first three IABIN Council Meetings.
The next step is to declare the project effective, which will happen as
soon as the Bank receives the Operational Manual from the OAS and finds it
to be satisfactory. The first disbursement to the OAS will then allow the
project to begin.
The OAS, as Executing Agency of the GEF grant, will now begin to recruit
for the key positions to be filled. The recruitment announcement for the
key position of Director of the IABIN Secretariat, to be based at the City
of Knowledge in Panama, will be posted in a few days on the
IABIN web site. Procurement opportunities
will be posted on the IABIN Web site and announced in the publications
Development Business and DG Market.
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