The Global Marketplace for Forest Information

Why should we have the Global Marketplace for Forest Information? The Problems: - Locating relevant information sources corresponding to the needs - Creating greater equitability in access to information - Global dissemination of important forestry-related information The Solution: An internet-based metadata service to provide coordinated world-wide access to forest-related information.

History of GFIS I The importance of access to forest-related information for the sustainable development of the world’s forests was recognized at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in The Forest Principles agreed at UNCED underline the importance of timely, reliable and accurate information for public understanding and informed decision making. UNCED, inter alia, concluded that “existing national and international mechanisms of information processing and exchange...should be strengthened to ensure effective and equitable availability of information”. In 1998, the International Consultation on Research and Information Systems in Forestry (ICRIS) held in Gmunden, Austria, recommended that the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) should “endorse and promote the development of a Global Forest Information Service to enhance access to all forest-related information, ensuring that it is accessible to all stakeholders including policy-makers, forest managers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community groups and the public at large”. As a consequence, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) called for promoting the provision and efficient sharing of existing information and the strengthening of networks and specifically “requested ITFF member organizations to work with IUFRO in exploring possibilities for a global forest information service”.

History of GFIS II In implementing the request of IFF, IUFRO initiated various activities to establish a Global Forest Information Service – GFIS. These included the establishment of a GFIS Task Force, the development of a GFIS information server, the development of a web-interface ( as well as the implementation of the “GFIS Africa” project to strengthen institutional capacities. In order to develop the GFIS prototype significant investments have been made by IUFRO, substantial in-kind contributions have been made by key partners, such as CIFOR and FAO. The first version of GFIS was presented at the IUFRO European Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August The current GFIS prototype was successfully demonstrated at the XII World Forestry Congress in Quebec, Canada, in September 2003, and now includes about metadata records contributed by about 60 forestry institutions from all regions of the world. Since the beginning of 2004 GFIS partners have been working to bring the GFIS prototype into a quality production mode, with more stable and long-term arrangements for financial and other contributions.

A federation of people and forest information resources connected through technology, expertise and interests. What is GFIS? GFIS is an Internet gateway to forest information resources from around the world. Users can locate maps, datasets, web resources, journal articles, books and other resources relevant to their information needs.

Silviculture Physiology and Genetics Forest Operations and Techniques Inventory, Growth and Yield Forest Products Social, Economic, Information and Policy Sciences Forest Health Forest Environment What is in GFIS? Over 120,000 catalogue records are currently available through GFIS from 50 organisations located in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. This pool of reference data is the starting point for a continuously expanding service eventually providing links to all information resources worldwide. 12/2000 Fire Atlas Africa Source: esa ESRIN Source: Schnabel, Department of Forest Growth, BFW Source: Krehan, Department of Forest Protection, BFW Maps Journals Grey Literature GIS Policies Experts Data Research Reports Images Access to…About…

Who needs GFIS? GFIS community: Scientists, decision-makers, forest managers, industries, information specialists, educators, NGOs, general public GFIS Providers … Collecting Analysing Documenting Publishing Cataloguing Archiving Distributing …and GFIS Users Questioning Accessing Locating Retrieving Interpreting Managing Finding Solutions Making Decisions

…from a variety of recognised sources …

GFIS: A Distributed System GFIS is a distributed system whereby participating organisations remain responsible for the generation and maintenance of their information content. GFIS enables users to locate that content and, where appropriate, access it through GFIS Service Centres or from the information provider directly.

GFIS Information Server The GFIS information server is the central technical component of GFIS. It collects GFIS metadata from the Service Centres and Information Providers, thus enabling global searching. The server facilitates search services, such as multi- host searching, z39.50 services, and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). Thus, it enables global interoperability searching.

Data/Information Object (DO) Data/Information Objects are the items that the user wants to find through metadata searching. These items have different content, spatial and temporal scales, format and other attributes specific to each object and database.

Metadata Metadata are data about data. Each metadata item is used to describe a data/information object. The GFIS metadata definition is based on the Dublin Core metadata standard.

GFIS Metadata Elements (I) Mandatory DC fields:DC DescriptionGFIS Information Provider TitleThe name given to the resource by the CREATOR or PUBLISHER CreatorThe person(s) or organisations primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the resource SubjectHere: Subject Keywords: free text (user-defined keywords) TypeCategory of the resource: e.g. homepage, novel, technical report etc. FormatData representation of the resource such as text/html, ASCII, or JPEG image etc. IdentifierString or number to uniquely identify the resource (e.g. ISBN, ISSN, URL in case of online resources) LanguageLanguage of intellectual content of the resource

GFIS Metadata Elements (II) Desirable DC fields:DC DescriptionGFIS Information Provider ContributorPersons or organisations in addition to those specified in the CREATOR element. PublisherThe entity responsible for the information content RelationThe relation of this resource to other resources (e.g. images in a document) DescriptionA textual description of the resource SourceA string used to identify the work from which this resource was derived. DateThe date the resource was made available in its present form. CoverageSpatial or temporal characteristics of the resource (e.g. country, region etc.) RightsLink to a copy right notice

Why GFIS needs a thesaurus… Information experts have found that better consistency is obtained if standards are used for controlling the terms in an information repository. The use of consistent terms by both contributors and users helps to improve the chances of users locating all documents relevant to their interest within the GFIS system. A multilingual thesaurus: Allows users to search on keywords in their own language; Allows indexers to assign keywords in their own language; Describes each concept with a keyword in each language; Provides a systematic display of the descriptors, simplifying navigation through the terminology; Facilitates development of closely-focussed search strategies

What is a Multilingual Forestry Thesaurus? A thesaurus is a hierarchical controlled vocabulary, meaning that the terms within the vocabulary are somehow related to each other. A multilingual forestry thesaurus contains terms that are used in the forestry domain in as many languages as the stakeholders deem appropriate.

This is an example, taken from the GEneral Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus (GEMET): afforestation BAQ: oihaneztatze; oihantze; baso-sartze BUL: Залесяване DAN: tilplantning DUT: bosaanplanting USA: afforestation FIN: metsitys, metsän istuttaminen FRE: boisement GER: Aufforstung GRE: αναδάσωση HUN: erdosítés ITA: forestazione NOR: skogreisning POR: florestação RUS: облесение SLO: zalesňovanie SLV: pogozdovanje SPA: repoblación forestal SVE: skogsodling; skogsplantering Definition: 1) Establishment of a new forest by seeding or planting of nonforested land. 2) The planting of trees on land which was previously used for other uses than forestry. 3) The planting of trees in an area, or the management of an area to allow trees to regenerate or colonize naturally, in order to produce a forest. (Source: MGH / WRIGHT / ALL) Broader Terms: forestry Narrower Terms: reforestation,local afforestation

Words, words, words…. In a collaborative project with major stakeholders, GFIS proposes to develop a multilingual forestry thesaurus whereby different terminologies can be linked.

GFIS Information Provider A GFIS Information Provider is an institution or individual that collects and maintains forest-related information and accompanying metadata that meet the criteria of the GFIS collection policy. Providers submit metadata records through GFIS Service Centres. To be integrated to GFIS system, the metadata can be converted to GFIS-Dublin Core metadata by using GFIS conversion tool.

GFIS Service Centre The GFIS Service Centre is a GFIS partner institution that collects, maintains and manages GFIS metadata submitted by information provider(s) or others. Service Centres may also collect information about information providers, organizations, events and activities within their region.

Name of GFIS Service Centre CountryOrganisation hosting a GFIS Service Centre Central Africa Service Centre GabonAssociation pour le Development de l'Information Environmentale (ADIE/REIMP) Sahelian West Africa Service Centre SenegalCentre National de Recherche Forestieres (CNRF)-ISRA Coastal West Africa Service Centre GhanaForest Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) Southern Africa Service Centre ZimbabweForestry Research Commission, Zimbabwe (FRC) GFIS Information Server (GFIS Management Unit) InternationalInternational Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Eastern Africa Service Centre KenyaKenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) NBII-GFIS Service CentreUnited States of America National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) FORREX GFIS Service Centre Canada FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership GFIS Service Centres

GFIS Organisation GFIS Consortium Interim GFIS Steering Group GFIS Management Unit GFIS Service Centres GFIS Information Providers

A forest plantation manager in Ghana is interested in growing an indigenous species and is seeking information on site conditions required for Milicia excelsa, commonly known as Odum, Mvule and Iroko. Milicia is considered to be the most useful timber species in Africa. Case Study: Using GFIS for Forest Plantation Management

The manager accesses GFIS through

…enters the basic search page…

…types in “Milicia” and selects specific information providers.

His search results in 45 metadata records.

He selects several records of interest and stores them in his GFIS Basket.

He then s them to himself for future reference.

Some important points GFIS does not search all databases (unlike Google) GFIS does not hold raw data (unlike FAO) The nature of the data that are accessible from any institution is determined by that institution GFIS does not compete with national or regional initiatives. Rather, it seeks to add value to them by enhancing networking.

The GFIS Principles I To promote accessibility, credibility, quality and permanence of forest information, GFIS adheres to the following principles: GFIS emphasizes partnerships, cross-sectoral and international, to develop skills, for technology transfer, and to maximize the value of all forest information resources and providers, worldwide. Visibility of global forest information through GFIS is simple, equitable and timely for all.

The GFIS Principles II Agreed standards are followed to ensure that a consistent level of quality and relevance is achieved to serve the needs of GFIS users. The protection of intellectual property rights, confidentiality and security is held in the highest regard. As a global network of distributed information resources, GFIS information providing organizations maintain full identity throughout the search and retrieval process and retain managerial control of their information.

Key future developments I In May 2004, the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) agreed that GFIS should become a joint CPF Initiative. CPF decided “that IUFRO, as focal point for the initiative, would develop, in collaboration with FAO and CIFOR, a proposal for the further development of GFIS as a joint CPF initiative for the consideration of CPF members at their next meeting”. Based on this decision it is expected that CPF will provide an institutional platform that will facilitate the further development of GFIS.

Key future developments II Contributions from CPF members and other partners are required to implement GFIS. Below is an indicative list of components: - Information provider partnership development, including to establish procedures and technology for extracting metadata - Specification of metadata standards for use with all partners - GFIS multilingual gateway with information browsing functions and access to search function - Metadata maintenance and refinement of search functionalities - Training and capacity building - GFIS coordination and documentation

Key future developments III Draft paper The final draft version of the paper “Development of GFIS as CPF initiative” had been sent for comments to CIFOR and FAO by IUFRO. Endorsement of paper The paper will be sent to the UNFF Secretariat by IUFRO. The UNFF Secretariat will be requested to put the topic on the agenda of the next CPF meeting on 6 September 2004 in New York, and ask the CPF for endorsement. Links:

Thank you for your attention!