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The Coordinating Institution for the Species and Specimenes
Thematic Network is a Consortium leads by "Instituto
Nacional de Biodiversidad de Costa Rica" INBio. The members
of the consortium are:
Species represent the fundamental unit for understanding the diversity
of life on earth, and are the typical level of biodiversity that is protected
by laws (e.g., CITES, endangered species legislation, IUCN Red Lists).
Beyond the basic need to classify species known to exist (taxonomy),
decision makers require information about the status of species (imperiled
or abundant), individual species requirements (natural history and phenology),
and the best practices for managing populations, especially for vulnerable
species.
Thematic Network Goal
The objective of this Thematic Network is to implement an electronic
and institutional network dedicated to regional species information that
supports the decision making process. Ultimately, tools developed by
the Network should allow the user to consult specimen, species and ecosystems
databases in an integrated manner (in coordination with other Thematic
Networks).
Objectives
- Enhance the usefulness of species information for decision makers
in government and civil society.
- Evaluate and begin implementing the standards and protocols needed
to guide the development and sharing of species information that
is distributed among different institutions of the region. Standards
should consider associated information such as natural history, indicators,
distribution, and management.
- Implement an information system to disseminate species information
not currently available or presently managed within incompatible
systems.
- Integrate species information with specimen and ecosystem information
from other IABIN thematic networks.
- Maintain the species information Thematic Network
Key Issues
The following issues represent the main challenges to IABIN in achieving
the goals related to species information:
- A variety of competing standards for species information need to
be reconciled and brought into alignment.
- Many countries lack the tools to make existing information widely
available
- Conceptual models for linking specimen, species and ecosystem information
must be established.
Documents
Agreement |
ToR Species Specimens | Memorandum
of Cooperation | Technical
Proposal
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