12 th Meeting of the GBIF Participant Nodes Committee 6-7 October 2013, Berlin, Germany Towards a generic work programme for a Node Olaf Bánki Senior Programme Officer for Participation Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

GBIF Strategic plan By the end of 2016, GBIF should have demonstrated an unquestionable rationale for ‘Biodiversity Information Facilities’ becoming a permanent infrastructure in every country and region …..

A generic framework: why? offering a framework for GBIF Participant Nodes to position themselves in the landscape of other initiatives (the niche of the Node) being able to get a strategic overview of the progress of a Participant Node being able to identify the areas where capacity enhancement is required making the value proposition for GBIF within a country 3

Participants Nodes: high diversity Different stages of development Country and organization Nodes Not all have budget Connection to science or environment ministries Few have political mandate Country Nodes positioned differently Different structures to involve national stakeholders 4 Getting to a generic framework for a Node is a challenge

Some former experiences Participant report system Nodes status index (an emerging idea 2008) 5 Good ideas, but time-consuming, and mostly data was too scattered to capture real patterns in the community Good ideas, but time-consuming, and mostly data was too scattered to capture real patterns in the community

Existing documents 6 Document needs to be updated We need additional documentation as well Document needs to be updated We need additional documentation as well

Some issues to tackle A perspective on Node & BIF concepts A fresh perspective on capacity enhancement Formulation of ultimate goals of GBIF at the national level (a forward look) Different development paths (can we define common development paths?) 7

Node & BIF concept 8 A perspective

Node & BIF: different definitions 1st GBIF MoU ( ): A stable computing gateway (...) or a single, web-accessible computer containing one or more significant maintained biodiversity databases 2nd GBIF MoU ( ): A mechanism by which a Participant coordinates and supports GBIF data-sharing activities (...) includes both physical infrastructure and human resources 9

GBIF Participant Node definition From the documentation on how to set up a Node (draft 2009) “a unit, agency or institution designated by a GBIF Participant to coordinate the development and activities of a biodiversity information facility (BIF) at the Participant level (e.g. national, regional, or thematic; NBIF, ReBIF, ThemeBIF, respectively)” 10

Node Definition GBIF MoU 2012 Some elements of the definition include: Coordinates and facilitates mobilization and use of biodiversity data within the Participant’s domain with national stakeholders serving national needs & priorities Mechanism to benefit from GBIF services Includes both physical infrastructure and human resources Functions as an information gateway among Participants, other stakeholders, and the GBIFS 11 Participant Biodiversity Information Facility (BIF or Node)

Recommended Node definition From the documentation on how to set up a Node (draft 2009) “a unit, agency or institution designated by a GBIF Participant to coordinate the development and activities of a biodiversity information facility (BIF) at the Participant level (e.g. national, regional, or thematic; NBIF, ReBIF, ThemeBIF, respectively)” 12

13 Node HoD BIF Wider national community Board / national committee Data publishers Node and BIF concept

Node & BIF concept Definitions of the Node and the BIF are evolving over time, as is the role of the Node Manager The Node and BIF concept are not the same 14

Capacity enhancement 15 A new framework

Individual level Relates to the competencies of individuals Organization level Relates to the strength in organizational arrangements of the Node, staffing, resources, data publishing policies etc. Enabling Environment level Relates to the surrounding conditions for example at the policy level that allow the Node to function Capacity Enhancement 16 A framework used by the UNDP that can be translated to the GBIF situation

Ultimate goals at the National Level 17 A forward look

Different policy decision-makers 18

Potential ultimate goals at the National level 1.Serving science ministries/departments/councils: Open data access infrastructure for biodiversity science 2.Serving environmental ministries/departments: Biodiversity information system for environmental national and international policy 3.Serving both science & environment ministries: Open data access infrastructure for biodiversity monitoring data (nature conservation and management) 19

Different Development Paths 20

Different development paths Case 1: no biodiversity information infrastructure present in a country and the GBIF Participant Node can be the first starting point Case 2: there are components of infrastructure on biodiversity information present nationally and the GBIF Participant Node is providing interoperability and specific set of niche data Case 3: there is a platform/organization for biodiversity information present and the GBIF Participant Node provides the infrastructure to make data access dynamic 21

Way forward 22 Proposed activities for Break- out group

Task of the break-out group Can we identify a number of axis along which a Node (and BIF) would be expected to progress? 23

Axis species list 1.Assessing national status 2.Collating a set of lists 3.Creating partial national inventory 4.Publish inventory to GBIF 5.Generate full survey 6.Managed inventory 7.Fully linked to global lists

Axis Data Portal 1.Shared web presence 2.Independent web presence 3.Basic ‘data backed’ web presence 4.Portal tailors to particular uses 5.Basic mechanism to allow integration into other systems 6.Advanced API

Axis funding 1.Limited ‘spare time’ input 2.Short term budget to pay for staff time 3.Established manager 4.Dedicated service team to support data publication 5.Dedicated technical capacity to support users 6.Funding is balance across more than one ministry