1. “The field of knowledge is the common property of all mankind” Thomas Jefferson, 1807 Conservation Commons IABIN Council Meeting 6-8 April, 2005

2. Agenda What is the Conservation Commons? Brief timeline, Principles, Endorsements Facilitating Framework – staff (0) Information sharing tools – role of the Conservation Commons GBIF SIS WDPA Discussion – Challenges Future activities How can you get involved?

3. Conservation depends on the logical synthesis of data, information, expertise and technology

4. Invasive Species Satellite Images Science Journals People Climate Measures Environmental Law Threats Practices Land Use Traditional Knowledge

6. BCIS Biodiversity Knowledge Commons START Gland May 04 28 organizations discuss common approaches to sharing data, information & knowledge LAUNCH - IUCN World Congress Nov 04 Formally recommended by IUCN General Assembly CGR3.Rec037

7. Principle 1 – Open Access The Conservation Commons promotes free and open access to data, information and knowledge for conservation purposes.

8. Principle 2 – Mutual Benefit The Conservation Commons welcomes and encourages participants to both use resources and to contribute data, information and knowledge.

9. Principle 3 – Rights and Responsibilities Contributors to the Conservation Commons have full right to attribution for any uses of their data, information, or knowledge, and the right to ensure that the original integrity of their contribution to the Commons is preserved. Users of the Conservation Commons are expected to comply, in good faith, with terms of uses specified by contributors and in accordance with these Principles.

10. Principles Endorsed by … American Museum of National History BirdLife International Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA), Brazil Conservation International Fauna & Flora International Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) Invasive Species Specialist Group of SSC IUCN - The World Conservation Union London Museum of Natural History NASA – Earth Science Directorate National Commission of Biodiversity, Mexico (CONABIO) NatureServe PALNet Red Hat - Open Source Affairs Smithsonian Society for Conservation GIS Social Insects Specialist Group of SSC Species Information Service (SIS) South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) The Nature Conservancy (TNC) TRAFFIC International United Nations Development Program (UNDP) University of Maryland – Global Land Cover Facility UNEP - WCMC WWF Brazil WWF International and more …

11. Examples Structured Data GBIF www.gbif.net (data portal prototype) SISwww.iucn.org/themes/ssc WDPA www.unep-wcmc.org Documents ConserveOnline www.conserveonline.org PalNetwww.parksnet.orgwww.parksnet.org

12. Global Biodiversity Information Facility

13. What is GBIF ? An international megascience project designed to Make the world’s biodiversity data freely and universally available via the Internet, and especially to Share primary scientific biodiversity data for science, society and a sustainable future

14. …to help deal with the unequal distribution of biodiversity information … to repatriate biodiversity data to countries of origin … to also help overcome the digital divide GBIF was established …

15. Biodiversity and information about it are unevenly distributed…. biodiversity hotspot holder of large amounts of biodiversity data

16. Everything GBIF does is in partnership with others IUCN/Species Information Service CBD: GTI, 2010 indicators, CHM

17. Tangible benefits for the members: Funding opportunities: Seed money awards (DIGIT + ECAT): $ 2.75 mill in the last 2 years. Capacity building & Training opportunities (DiGIR, uses of biodiversity data) -> Modeling workshop. Mentoring projects (Node-Node support & collaborations are fostered) Awards: Ebbe Nielsen (young professionals in biodiversity informatics Demo Projects: prototypes and proofs of concept.

18. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) GBIF’s data policy: free and open data access Distributed system with proper attribution to data source(s) Data use and data sharing agreements in place (available on line at www.gbif.net) Data ownership and quality resides with the data providers GBIF DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY OWNERSHIP to the data it serves !

19. Species Information Service (SIS) A flexible data management tool: Basis for sharing biodiversity information from many IUCN sources Developed by and is part of IUCN Species Survival Commission Relates species to their habitats and ecosystems overtime Contains up-to-date information Globally accessible

20. SIS data entry module

21. Basic output Species distribution Species status

22. Global species richness of amphibians (n=5,600) per half-degree cell (data from IUCN Global Amphibian Assessment)

23. WDPA: The World Database of Protected Areas

24. Consortium Members

25. The World Database on Protected Areas

26. Attribute data: 20+ variables including country, name, established date, extension [Has], IUCN category, PA designation, management agency, sources of data, GIS data, etc. The World Database on Protected Areas

27. WDPA 2005 status Protected Areas Total number of PAs with Boundary data National level IUCN categories I - VI70,38220,772 National other categories38,40419,546 TOTAL108,78640,318 International Conventions2,633913 Regional Conventions3,3001,392 The World Database on Protected Areas

28. There is no standard What can you contribute? How can you get involved?

29. Promote Open Access

30. Publish your results in open access journals I

31. Endorse the Principles

32. WDPA GBIF ConserveOnline SIS PALNet NASA PA Archive Get involved in Inter-operability projects Your Database? GISD

33. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” Sir Isaac Newton