GBIF has its genesis in the work of the OECD Megascience Forum Working Group on Biological Informatics that was established in January 1996. This Working Group's Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup concluded that:
- The biodiversity information domain is vast and complex, but critically important to society.
- At present, existing biodiversity and ecosystems information is neither readily accessible nor fully useful.
- Recent technological and political developments
present opportunities for OECD countries to show leadership in the area of
biodiversity informatics.
The proposal that OECD member countries establish a Global Biodiversity Information Facility was the major outcome of their work.
The Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup met seven times between June 1996 and September 1998, and in addition consulted frequently with existing biological informatics efforts. Members of the Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup included representatives from 20 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, UK, USA) as well as a representative from the European Commission.
The Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup submitted its Report to the OECD in January 1999 as part of the Report from the Working Group on Biological Informatics. In this report, the Subgroup’s major recommendation was that an international mechanism was needed to make biodiversity data and information openly accessible worldwide. The Report proposed the formation of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as this mechanism.
The Report was considered at the meeting of the OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy at Ministerial Level in June 1999. The Ministers endorsed efforts by interested countries and encouraged initiatives aimed at establishing an international co-ordinating body that would implement a Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Ministers welcomed the efforts of several countries to undertake preparatory work necessary for the establishment of GBIF by mid-2000.
Representatives of 17 interested countries participated in an Ad Hoc Meeting on Implementation of GBIF in March 1999. Outcomes from that meeting guided the efforts of the GBIF Interim Steering Committee, which met in
September 1999, February 2000 and September 2000, which were attended by delegations from 15
countries. The result of these meetings was the Memorandum of
Understanding, which was opened for signature in December, 2000. An Invitation to Participate in GBIF was sent to the Science Ministers of all countries and economies.
The MOU provided that GBIF would be considered established once ten countries had signed and pledged their monetary contributions. This was achieved before March, 2001, when the first Governing Board meeting was held in Montréal, Canada. At that meeting, the Chair of the Governing Board was elected, and the
Ebbe Nielsen Prize established in honor of one of GBIF’s strongest proponents whose untimely death occurred while he was en route to the Governing Board meeting as Australia’s Head of Delegation.
At the second Governing Board meeting, held in Bonn in June, 2001, Denmark was
chosen to host the GBIF Secretariat; at GB3 in Paris in September, Dr. James Edwards was selected to be
Executive Secretary and Director of the Secretariat. In March, 2002, GB4 was held in Canberra and the Ebbe Nielsen Prize was awarded for the first time.
Most of the Secretariat staff were hired and arrived for work between GB4 and GB5.
Thus, at the fifth meeting of the Governing Board, held in San José, Costa Rica, 9-11 October, 2002, GBIF was sensed by the participating representatives to be truly on its way toward its goals. The Work Programme of the Secretariat was approved, as was the budget for the second financial year.
GBIF history after this point is documented in its Annual Reports.
