| Federal Activities |
| Committee
on the Environmental and Natural Resources Research |
The CENR is one of nine committees of the NSTC, a standing,
cabinet-level body established by President Clinton in November
1993. It is chaired by the President and composed of the Vice
President, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology,
the cabinet secretaries and agency head with responsibilities
for significant science and technology programs, and other White
House officials. The NSTC is managed by the Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology through the Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP). The principle purposes of the NSTC
are to: 1) define clear, national goals for Federal science and
technology investments; and 2) ensure that science, space, and
technology policies and programs contribute effectively to the
national goals. |
| Federal Geographic
Data Committee (FGDC) |
The Federal Geographic Data Committee is a 19 member interagency
committee composed of representatives from the Executive Office
of the President, Cabinet-level and independent agencies. The
FGDC is developing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)
in cooperation with organizations from State, local and tribal
governments, the academic community, and the private sector.
The NSDI encompasses policies, standards, and procedures for
organizations to cooperatively produce and
share geographic data. |
| Integrated Taxonomic Information
System (ITIS) |
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a partnership
of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies, other organizations,
and taxonomic specialists cooperating on the development of an
on-line, scientifically credible, list of biological names focusing
on the biota of North America. ITIS is also a participating member
of Species 2000, an international project indexing the world's
known species. |
| Long-Term Ecological Research
(LTER) Program |
With an initial set of six sites selected in 1980, the National
Science Foundation established the Long-Term Ecological Research
(LTER) Program to support research on long-term ecological phenomena
in the United States. The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)
Network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1100 scientists
and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal
and broad spatial scales. The Network promotes synthesis and
comparative research across sites and ecosystems and among other
related national and international research programs. |
| President's
Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) |
On September 30, 2001, President Bush signed Executive Order
13226 to form the President’s Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology (PCAST). On March 28, 2001, President
Bush named Floyd Kvamme PCAST's Co-Chair. PCAST was originally
established by President George Bush in 1990 to enable the
President to receive advice from the private sector and academic
community on technology, scientific research priorities, and
math and science education. The organization follows a tradition of Presidential
advisory panels on science and technology dating back
to Presidents Eisenhower and Truman. Since its creation
PCAST has been expanded and currently consists of 23
members plus the Director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy who serves as the Council's Co-Chair.
The council members, distinguished individuals appointed
by the President, are drawn from industry, education,
and research institutions, and other nongovernmental
organizations. |
| NGO Activities |
| The Natural Science Collections
Alliance |
The Natural Science Collections Alliance is a Washington, D.C.-based
nonprofit association that supports natural science collections,
their human resources, the institutions that house them, and
their research activities for the benefit of science and society. |
| Natural Heritage Program |
Natural heritage programs manage standardized information on
endangered plants, animals and ecological communities. What animals,
plants and ecological communities are rare? Where do they occur?
How are they faring? These are all questions that natural heritage
programs answer every day. As society makes decisions on developing
our world, good decisions depend upon good information. Natural
heritage programs provide this key information on our biodiversity
to developers, corporations, conservationists, government agencies
and researchers.
Using a common, standards-based methodology, natural heritage
programs share information on endangered plants, animals
and ecological communities that make up our planet's biodiversity.
Collectively these programs are known as the Natural Heritage
Network. In the early 1970s The Nature Conservancy conceived
of the idea of natural heritage programs. Since that time,
working in partnership with many independent public agencies
and other organizations, individual biodiversity data centers
have been setup throughout much of the Western Hemisphere.
The Association for Biodiversity Information was formed by
and works to benefit the the Natural Heritage Network. |
| Association for
Biodiversity Information |
The Association for Biodiversity Information was established
to unify, support, and represent the network of Natural Heritage
Programs and Conservation Data Centres in the mission of collecting,
interpreting, and disseminating ecological information critical
to the conservation of the world's biological diversity.
The Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI) advances
the goals of the Natural Heritage Programs, Conservation Data
Centres and associated organizations whose mission is to provide
information on the distribution, abundance, and conservation
needs of rare species and natural communities to governments,
industries, researchers, NGOs, and individuals. ABI assists
its members to operate as a network by sharing technologies,
facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experiences, and
facilitating the development of multijurisdictional information
products and services.
|
| The San Diego Supercomputer
Center SDSC |
The San Diego Supercomputer Center, a national laboratory for
computational science and engineering, was founded in 1985 by
the National Science Foundation. SDSC hosted the U.S. Organization
for Biodiversity Information (US-OBI) Workshop April 11-14, 1996,
sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The US-OBI will
facilitate the dissemination of collections data for use by the
nation's policy makers, environmental managers, scientific and
educational communities, and the public to sustain terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems in harmony with land use and meet the
informational needs of society at large. |
| Multi-National Activities |
| Biodiversity Conservation
Information System |
BCIS is a consortium of ten international conservation organisations
and programs of IUCN—The World Conservation Union, BCIS
Members collectively represent the single greatest global source
of biodiversity conservation information in the world. BCIS is
a framework within which the Members’ networks work together
toward a common goal: to support environmentally sound decision-making
and action by facilitating access to biodiversitydata and information. |
| Biodiversity
Data Management Project |
Biodiversity Data Management Project was initiated by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WCMC to facilitate the
building of national capacity for biodiversity data management
and exchange as required by the CBD. One of the outputs of the
Biodiversity Data Management (BDM) project (which is funded by
the Global Environment Facility) is a set of documents designed
to raise the profile of biodiversity information in decision-making
processes and help countries produce the necessary information
for biodiversity strategies and action plans. |
| Convention on Biological Diversity |
Convention on Biological Diversity site maintained by the convention
Secretariat. |
| GELOS |
GELOS is an inititiative of the G7 Group of Nations Environment
and Natural Resource Management project ( G7 - ENRM ); its main
objective is to create a global virtual distributed library of
ENRM data and resources. |
| Expert Center for Taxonomic
Identification (ETI) |
ETI is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in operational
relations with UNESCO. ETI's mission is to develop and produce
scientific and educational computer-aided information systems,
to improve the general access to and promote the broad use of
taxonomic and biodiversity knowledge worldwide. |
| IABIN |
The Action Plan for the Santa Cruz Summit for Sustainable Development
committed countries to establishing an Inter-American Biodiversity
Information Network (IABIN), primarily through the internet,
building upon existing initiatives. The US has identified IABIN
as a high priority for Summit followup. Brazil, the US, and Mexico
were the primary countries involved in pre-Summit discussions;
US civil society representatives also provided input. |
| Man and the Biosphere
Program |
The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme is an interdisciplinary
programme of research and training 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 forthe
improvement of the global relationship between people and the
environment. |
| Activities in Other Countries |
| Australia National University
(ANU) Bioinformatics Facility |
The ANU BioInformatics Facility is a small group of researchers
and programmers located within the Research School of Biological
Sciences. It is affiliated with ANU's Centre for Molecular Structure
and Function (CMSF), Centre for Information Science Research
(CISR), and Supercomputer Facility (ANUSF). |
| Biodiversity
Information Network (BIN21) |
BIN21 is an international initiative. Its purpose is to support
the Convention on Biological Diversity, helping to link relevean
information and making it available electronically. |
| Bio-Informatics Research
Group At the Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham. |
Studying the applications of IT and multimedia to all aspects
of the biosciences, especially to undergraduate teaching. Much
of our work is discipline independent however, and likely to
be of interest to anyone involved in computer based learning
or educational multimedia. |
| Canadian Biodiversity
Informatics Consortium, Inc. (CBIC) |
The Canadian Biodiversity Informatics Consortium Inc. (CBIC)
was formed in 1993 to assist Canada and developing countries
meet their biodiversity management needs. Using the most advanced
and cost-effective technologies available today, CBIC brings
extensive experience in strategic planning, environmental and
socio-economic analyses, biodiversity data acquisition and analysis,
and presentation. |
| Environment Australia |
Environment Australia is the Environment Program of the Australian
Environment Portfolio |
| Life |
Founded in 1992, the LIFE Page is Australia's first information
service on the World Wide Web. The main focus is on biological
information, especially the environment and biodiversity. However,
many other topics are covered as well. |
| Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
(INBio), Costa Rica |
The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) is a scientific
institution with social orientation. It is non-profit and for
the public good. Our mission is to promote a new awareness of
the value of biodiversity, and thereby achieve its conservation
and use to improve the quality of life. |
| National Commission for
the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), Mexico |
CONABIO's fundamental task is to promote and coordinate the
efforts that are currently being made by numerous institutions
and groups in Mexico along three main lines: 1) knowledge of
the country's biodiversity, specially through inventories, databases
and networking; 2) sustainable use; and 3) diffusion of knowledge
about biodiversity to the society. |
| State and Local Activities |
| California Environmental Resources
Evaluation System |
CERES is an information system developed by the California
Resources Agency to facilitate access to a variety of electronic
data describing California's rich and diverse environments. The
goal of CERES is to improve environmental analysis and planning
by integrating natural and cultural resource information from
multiple contributors and by making it available and useful to
a wide variety of users. |
| Illinois
CENTER FOR BIODIVERSITY |
The mission of the Center for Biodiversity is to acquire and
apply information pertaining to the diversity of life in order
to protect, manage, and develop the biotic resources of Illinois
in accordance with long-term environmental goals. Major research
programs in the Center are statewide inventories of native and
introduced organisms, long-term monitoring of natural and disturbed
communities, studies on exotic species, and systematic studies
of organisms for which we have taxonomic expertise. |
| Biodiversity Research Center Informatics |
The University of Kansas Biodiversity Research Center (BRC) Informatics Group builds tools for biodiversity informatics. Their tools provide a standard format for collection data, offer an infrastructure for linking collections, and support predictive models for habitat expansion or destruction. |