Since its founding in 1996 by the Heads of State of theAmericas at the Santa Cruz Summit on SustainableDevelopment, the Inter-American BiodiversityInformation Network (IABIN)has striven to create a hemi-spheric forum for informationexchange and use on biodiversityissues. The CoordinatingInstitutions (CIs) for all fiveThematic Networks, made up ofconsortiums of academic institu-tions and NGOs, are working closely with the OASMember States to compile databases that will improvedecision making and planning for biodiversityconservation and management.

Since its inception in 2004, the Global EnvironmentFacility (GEF) project entitled “Building IABIN,” whichwas designed to implement the Network’s architecture,has made good progress overall. In 2008, it is strengthen-ing implementation of its key components. The majorchallenges and accomplishments expected in the comingyear will be to (i) undertake steps to ensure the sustain-ability of IABIN, (ii) clarify the vision for IABIN afterthe GEF Project ends, (iii) boost fundraising actionsincluding outreach/campaigns and communicationsby hiring a fundraiser specialist, (iv) facilitate theCoordinating Institutions, (v) coordinate with organiza-tions that have been awarded data digitizing grants;(32 grants were awarded between 2006-2007 and 86additional grants will be financed in 2008), (vi) imple-ment Component 3 “Information Tools for DecisionMaking” and, (vii) solidify strategic partnerships.

CURRENT SUCCESSES:� The Coordinating Institutions have established

their IABIN related web pages and areinputting data.

� The IABIN Chair, the General Secretariat of theOrganization of American States and Secretariathave kept the IABIN Council and IABIN ExecutiveCommittee (IEC) members informed of project

execution and network activities through emailupdates, Semester and Workshop Reports, and byupdating the IABIN website www.iabin.net.

� The IABIN website,operational in Spanish andEnglish, is currently beingupdated and modernized.Each Thematic Network hasestablished its own websiteand has begun to develop/adapt tools for accessing datathrough these sites.

� The 5th IABIN Council meeting took place inUruguay in May, 2007

� The 2nd IABIN Executive Committee Meetingwas held on January 28-31, 2008

� In 2008, approximately 86 new grants for datadigitizing will be awarded, all funds assignedfor information tools for decision-making willbe distributed, and fundraising activities andmaintenance will be carried out.

INTER-OPERABILITY AND ACCESS TO DATAThe IABIN Catalogue Service will deliver the betaversion of the IABIN-Biobot, which is a customizablesearch engine for biological information and a metadataeffort database that standardizes descriptions of onlinebiological data sources.

The Species and Specimen Thematic Network(SSTN) continued the development of its two maintools (i) the data portal and (ii) the digitization anddata management tool. The data portal is finished(version 2.0). The first version of the digitization and datamanagement tool is in place to capture species data whilea second version is currently in development for capturingspecies and specimens data. On February 25-28, 2008,the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) ofCosta Rica held the first regional workshop to teachthe trainers in the use of software tools developed forthe SSTN; 19 participants from 15 countries attended.http://species.iabin.net/reuniones_talleres_en.html

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IABIN Project Milestones 2008

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The Ecosystems Thematic Network focused on thedevelopment of a Reference Standard Format Databasefor Terrestrial, Aquatic and Marine Ecosystems. DataDigitizing Grants were given to three countries (Argentina,Bolivia and Chile) to complete the Terrestrial StandardFormat. The Marine Standard Format was defined, andData Digitizing Grants were given to five countries(Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and theDominican Republic) to complete the Marine StandardFormat. Additionally, the following countries/organizations have Implementation Plans to establishgeo-servers and provide country data:

� Chile: Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente(CONAMA)

� Ecuador: Ministerio del Medio Ambiente� Peru: Consejo Nacional del Ambiente� Uruguay: Dirección Nacional de Medio Ambiente� Paraguay: Secretaría del Ambiente� Argentina: El Ministerio de Medio Ambiente� Panama: Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM)

The Protected Areas Thematic Network contributed to(i) the II Latin America Congress of National Parks andother Protected Areas (Bariloche, Argentina), (ii) the LatinAmerican Protected Areas Workshop on “Improvement ofPolygons through the “Global Data Toolset” in Paraguay,and (iii) the design of the architecture for data transfer.

The Andes-Amazon Protected Areas InformationNetwork (RANPA) held the third International Workshopin May 2008 to explore information inter-operability

on protected areas, and regional cooperation in areaswith international borders. The first version of the

“Americas and Caribbean Database on ProtectedAreas” http://protectedareas.iabin.net/db offersinformation over the Internet to 10,852 protectedareas in the form of a dynamic database that usesthe World Database on Protected Areas, version2006 – UNEP-WCMC as its starting point.

The IABIN Biodiversity Informatics WorkshopFocusing on Marine Issues for the CaribbeanRegion took place in March 2008 in Jamaica.The workshop convened the Caribbean IABINFocal Points to establish collaborative mechanisms,refined a Caribbean management effectivenessdatabase using the existing MPA Global databaseand, reviewed geospatial technologies with respectto development of monitoring and evaluationtools for protected areas management.

http://www.oas.org/dsd/Events/english/08.03.10.htm

The IABIN Invasives Information Network (I3N) contin-ued training in and development of country-specific onlinedatabases. A training workshop took place in Venezuela inApril 2008 and three additional workshops are planned inCentral America in the second semester of 2008. The work-shops train data providers in the use of the I3N database andWeb templates, an intranet system designed for uploadingdata into the I3N Database, and an administrative systemwhereby data are validated before online publication. Seven

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IABIN Project Milestones 2008

AMERICAS AND CARIBBEAN DATABASEON PROTECTED AREAS, VERSION 1.0

PROTECTED AREAS THEMATIC NETWORK DATA TRANSFER TEST – PHASE I

http://protectedareas.iabin.net/db/map.php?country=Paraguay&lat=-22.42000&lon=56.61000&name=Bella%20Vista&area=7311&iucn=II

countries now have their own standard-ized I3N Web sites and more areunder development: Argentina, Brazil,Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Paraguay,and Uruguay (click on country name tosee country database web site page)http://i3n.iabin.net/. The main I3NWeb site offers downloads of newlydeveloped value-added tools to aid indecision support, including a risk andpathways analysis tool that also utilizesdata from the Protected Areas and Species-Specimen Thematic Networks.

The Pollinators Thematic Network(PTN) is developing its architecture anddata portal, a checklist of pollinating species, plant-pollinator relationship data, an expert’s database, a search-able list of references for pollinator-related publications,the PTN website, the Darwin Core pollination extensionschema, and the IABIN search interoperability with theIABIN catalog and the IABIN search. Two tools underdevelopment include a tool that will allow grantees to storetheir data and serve them to the IABIN portal. The toolallows input of data defined by the Darwin Core (DwC)schema and the DwC relationship extension. Another toolcontains plant-pollinator relationship data and will providedata to the portal, http://pollinators.iabin.net/

DATA CONTENT CREATIONWhile the IABIN Catalog Service and five ThematicNetworks provide data and interoperability, data contentgrants improve the availability of data. These grants(US$10,000) are given to institutions to supportinstitutional efforts to improve the availability of datathrough the network.

The status of the Data Content Grantsawarded by each Thematic Network is athttp://www.iabin.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=258&Itemid=38 and the status of theData Content Grants awarded by Country and Institutionis at https://www.oas.org/dsd/IABIN/Component2.htm

2ND IABIN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGThe 2nd IABIN Executive Committee (IEC) Meeting tookplace on January 29-31, 2008 in Panama. This meeting wasattended by the Eight IEC Countries, the T&T Focal Point,

the Coordinating Institutions of the Thematic Networksand representative(s) of The Nature Conservancy.http://www.iabin.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=268&Itemid=0&lang=en

Some of the Substantive Decisions of the 2nd IABINIEC Meeting held in January 2008 are:

� The IABIN Sustainability Committee, co-chaired byChile and Trinidad and Tobago, created at the FifthIABIN Council Meeting, presented a sustainabilitystrategy at the 2nd IEC meeting in Panama inJanuary, 2008.

� The University of Tennessee was accepted asmirror site for the server and the IABIN portal

� The United States and Trinidad & Tobagovolunteered to participate on a Feasibility Committeeto establish IABIN as an Inter-American Committeeon Biodiversity.

FUNDRAISING� A JRS Biodiversity Foundation grant for US$200,000

was awarded to IABIN, the Association of AmericanGeographers (AAG), and the Neotropical Project ofVirginia Tech entitled: “Enhancing Knowledge forEstablishing Ecosystem Conservation Priorities inthe Neotropics by Integrating Biodiversity andGeospatial Data”

� The IABIN Geo-Sur Program will receive aUS$50,000 grant from the Andean DevelopmentCorporation (CAF), IPGH, USGS-EROS DataCenter, and the Ecosystems Thematic Networkto disseminate geospatial technology toSouth America

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Attendees at the 2nd meeting of the IABIN Executive Committee, Panama, January, 2008

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� The OAS Professional Development ScholarshipProgram funded 20 fellowships to cover airfare forSouth American technical personnel to participatein the course from the IABIN Geo-Sur Program.

� The World Bank funded two IABIN projects:(i) Developing Guidelines for Management ofEnvironmental Information in World Bankand Inter-American Development Bankprojects (US$40K) and, (ii) IntegratingEcosystem and Species Data into DiseaseForecasting Models (US$200K).

� A Fundraising Coordinator will be hired in 2008to lead and coordinate the fundraising initiative.

� The US$6M GEF Grant is reinforced by significantco-financing from 78 institutions.

Since its inceptionin October 2004,through December2007, the GEF/IABIN Projecthas disbursed atotal amount ofUS $1,850,927representing31% of the US$6,000,000 five-yearProject Budget.Disbursements ofUS$3,189,676 (53%of the total Project

Budget) are planned for 2008, and the remaining fundsthat correspond to 16% of the total Project Budget willbe disbursed in 2009.

In more detail, the funds disbursements’ breakdown is46% for Interoperability and Access to data (Component1), 14% for Data Content Creation (Component 2),54% for Sustainability of IABIN (Component 4) and52% for Project Administration (Component 5).Therefore, the funds allocated for the development ofInformation Tools for Decision-Making (Component 3,scheduled for implementation in 2008) is the onlycomponent with 0% disbursement of funds.

2008 IABIN ACTIVITIESIn the year 2008, IABIN has carried out trainingworkshops and follow up activities:� Installation and Administration Workshop on

the software tools developed by the Species andSpecimens Thematic Network. Heredia, CostaRica. February 24th-28th, 2008. (See details athttp://species.iabin.net/reuniones_talleres_en.html)

� IABIN – IWCAM Informatics on BiodiversityWorkshop, focusing on Marine Affairs for theCaribbean Region. Ocho Ríos, Jamaica.March 10th-12th, 2008. (See details athttps://www.oas.org/dsd/Events/english/08.03.10.htm)

� Training Workshop on the Digitizing DataTool of Marine Ecosystems. Panama City.March 31st-April 1st, 2008.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES� Pilot Pollinators Technical Workshop. Ribeirao Preto,

Brazil. July 21st-23rd, 2008.� Installation and Administration of Software Tools

Developed by the Species and Specimens ThematicNetwork. Dictated in English. Heredia, Costa Rica.August 4th-8th, 2008.

� Training Workshop on the Digitizing Ecosystems Tool forContinental and Insular Waters. August 2008. Panama.

� Training Workshop for all countries, withsimultaneous translation in English andSpanish, on the Digitizing Pollinators Data Tool.September 2008. Location to be determined.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONFor further information about this Initiative,please visit our website at http://www.iabin.net.

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GEF Funding (US$ 1,850,926.78)and core co-financing byinstitutions (US$ 10,401,703.56)

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IABIN Project Milestones 2008

Attendees at the IABIN-IWCAM Informatics on BiodiversityWorkshop, Ocho Rios, Jamaica. March, 2008