Global Biodiversity Information Systems

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an interoperable network of biodiversity databases and information technology tools that will enable users to navigate and put to use the world's vast quantities of biodiversity information to produce national economic, environmental and social benefits. The purpose of establishing GBIF is to design, implement, co-ordinate, and promote the compilation, linking, standardisation, digitisation and global dissemination of the world's biodiversity data, within an appropriate framework for property rights and due attribution. GBIF has five subcommittees (i) Outreach & Capacity Building, (ii) Electronic Catalogue of Names of Known Organisms, (iii) Digitization of Natural History Collection Data, and (iv) Data Access & Database Interoperability, and (v) Budget.

NatureServe - NatureServe provides knowledge about the world's natural diversity through conservation biology and data management services. NatureServe provides the context, analysis, and interpretation that transforms biological data into conservation knowledge.

Biodiversity Conservation Information System (BCIS) supports making decisions on the conservation and sustainable use of living resources. The handbooks form part of a comprehensive set of supporting materials designed to build information management capacity and improve decision-making.

Species 2000 hopes to highlight all known species of plants, animals, fungi and microbes on Earth as the baseline dataset for studies of global biodiversity. It will also provide a simple access point enabling users to link from here to other data systems for all groups of organisms, using direct species-links. Users worldwide will be able to verify the scientific name, status and classification of any known species through species checklist data drawn from an array of participating databases.

DIVERSITAS is an international program of biodiversity science that is sponsored by UNESCO and several of the members of the International Council of Science (ICSU): the International Union of Biological Sciences, the International Union of Microbiological Societies, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program. The goal of DIVERSITAS is to provide accurate scientific information and predictive models of the status of biodiversity and sustainability of the use of the Earth's biotic resources, and to build a world-wide capacity for the science of biodiversity. DIVERSITAS has established Core Program Elements in five areas: (i) the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning; (ii) origins, maintenance and change of biodiversity; (iii) systematics: inventorying and classification; (iv) monitoring of biodiversity; (v) conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity. it has also established six special target areas of research (stars): (i) soil and sediment biodiversity; (ii) marine biodiversity; (iii) microbial biodiversity; (iv) inland water biodiversity; (v) human dimensions; (vi) invasive species and their effect on biodiversity.

The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme is an interdisciplinary program of research and training supported by UNESCO intended to develop the basis, within the natural and the social sciences, for the rational use and conservation of the resources of the biosphere, and for the improvement of the global relationship between people and the environment. It has organized an innovative network of 337 Biosphere Reserves in 85 countries. Biosphere reserves are areas of terrestrial and coastal/marine ecosystems, where, through appropriate zoning patterns and management mechanisms, the conservation of ecosystems and their biodiversity is combined with the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of local communities, including relevant research, monitoring, education and training activities. They thus represent a major tool for implementing the concerns of Agenda 21, the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international agreements. Of most relevance to GBIF is the MAB Biological Inventory Systems, MABFlora and MABFauna. These searchable databases provide information about the multicellular organisms of a representative sample of sites for a large part of the world.

The World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) -- WFCC has been set up as a multidisciplinary commission of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) and is a federation within the International Union of Microbiological Societies. Different committees formed within WFCC address publications, training courses, collaboration with postal and patent organizations, data bases, quality standards, and guidelines for microbial collections. Recent activities have emphasized CBD related matters such as access to ex-situ microbial genetic resources, benefit sharing, and ownership issues.

The International Sequence Databank (GenBank/DDBJ/EMBL) contains information about the genetic sequence of the world's organisms. Over 3 billion base pairs of DNA from more than 50,000 species are currently archived. The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), a component of the EMBL, is a center for research and services in bioinformatics. The Institute manages databases of biological data including nucleic acid, protein sequences and macromolecular structures. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/index.html; http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp; http://www.embl-heidelberg.de

Global Resource Information Database (GRID). GRID is composed of a network of some 16 sites supported by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It aims to provide decision-makers and the public with improved access to high quality environmental information and to support the UNEP in expanding the use of such information for awareness-raising, policy-making and action.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) - WCMC provides objective, scientifically rigorous products and services that include ecosystem assessments, support for implementation of environmental agreements, regional and global biodiversity information, research on threats and impacts, and development of future scenarios for the living world.

Global Register of Migratory Species (GROMS) is a database containing information on about 4000 migratory species. GROMS is maintained by the Centre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany. It consists of a relational database connected to a Geographical Information System (GIS). GROMS supports the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and serves both scientific as well as conservational goals, trying to bridge existing gaps.