towards biodiversity information systems for decision-making in conservation and sustainable use in...
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Towards Biodiversity Information Systems for decision-making in conservation and
sustainable use in Costa Rica
Inter-American Workshop on Access to Environmental Data,
3-6 March 2004, Campinas, Brazil
William Ulate R.INBio
Contents
– Costa Rica today– What is INBio?– Mission– Biodiversity Information– SINAC: National Conservation Areas System– INBio´s Core Process– Administrative Structure– Species, Specimens and Ecosystems– Biodiversity Information Systems– The Atta Biodiversity Information System – Decision-making in conservation and sustainable use
Costa Rica Today
Evolution of key indicators from the 2000 UNDP Human Development Report
INDICATOR UNIT 1940 1960 1980 2000
UNDP Human Development Index
Coefficient N.D. 0,55 0,75 0,71
Population 1.000 656 1,199 2,276 3,943
Poor Homes % N.D. 50 19 21
Life expectancy Years 46,9 62,5 72,6 77,4
Child Mortality 1.000 123 68 19 10,2
Literacy % 73 84 90 95
Per capita PIB1990 US$
0,702 1,08 2,022 4,028
Costa Rica TodayNational Income for some of the Main Products
What is INBio?
National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica
• Non-governmental non-profit organization• Declared of public interest• Created in 1989• Strategic alliance with SINAC• www.inbio.ac.cr
Mission
“To promote a greater level of awareness of the value of biodiversity, as means to ensure its conservation and improve the quality of life of human beings.”
Biodiversity Information
We need:– scientifically validated,– relevant,– representative,– up-to-date,– multiple scales, – accesible
information.
SINAC
National Conservation Areas System
• Collections from Protected Areas
• Partnership alliance
• Information needs
• Capacity building
• Parataxonomists
Administrative Structure18 Strategic Action Units and 5 Thematic Areas
THEMATIC AREAS• Biodiversity Informatics• Inventory and Monitoring
• GIS• Bioprospecting• Conservation for
Development
STRATEGIC ACTION UNITS
Informatics Developments
Arthropods
Plants
Fungi
Mollusks
Vertebrates
SIGBio
Bioprospecting
<Cross-cutting issue for all Units>
Species, Specimens & Ecosystems
Biodiversity Information Systems
• BIMS– Development: 1993 – 1995– Production: 1995 – 2000
• Atta– Development: 1997 – 2000– Production: 2000 - today
Biodiversity Information Systems
• BIMS– Intergraph– All collections into one database– Key points:
• Multiple levels for identification: kingdom to variety• Identifications logging• One register for each specimen
Biodiversity Information SystemsAtta
• Conceived to support INBio’s core process
• Designed to reinforce the idea of an institutional system
• Aimed to last longer than BIMS
• Designed to be more scalable and more adaptable to new technologies
• Attend other users needs (not only scientists)
Biodiversity Information SystemsAtta
Atta
• Scalability• Common names• Flexible querying• Embedded GIS tools• Multiple security levels• Object-oriented design• Export info in standard formats• Multiple collections administration• Access to multimedia information via Internet• Eco-geographic, species, specimen level info.• Identification and taxonomical hierarchy history
Atta
• Time-frame:• Geographical-frame:• Taxonomical levels:
Geographic layers:• Collections: 5• Database size:• Concurrent users:• Avg. daily page hits:
• 1989-2003• Costa Rica• 22 (extendible)• 15 (extendible)• 5 (extendible)• 9.5 Gb + 3.5 Gb• Up to 40 (internally)• 12000
Atta
• Species UBI’s:• Collected specimens:• Identified specimens:• Identified species:• Daily new species (avg):• Ecosystems Inventory:
• 2,314 (+1,686 unpublished)
• 2,900,000• 900,000• 19,758• 0.71• 44% of the country
Atta Effective queries to Atta’s dynamic Web-reports
during the first 16 months of operationbetween May 2001 and Oct. 2002
• Total external queries:• Total Countries:
1. U.S.A.(3443) 11. Venezuela (50)
2. C.R. (2864) 12. Japan (49)
3. Spain (294) 13. Belgium (46)
4. Mexico (289) 14. Argentina (39)
5. Colombia(100) 15. Netherlands(37)
6. Canada (92) 16. U. K. (34)
7. Germany (85) 17. El Salvador (28)
8. Guatemala(80)18. Sweden (21)
9. Brazil (62) 19. Austria (16)
10. Peru (62) 20. Chile (15)
• 7.9 thousand• 40 countries
21. Australia (14) 31. Italy (7)
22. Ecuador (13) 32. Norway (7)
23. Nicaragua (12) 33. Panama (5)
24. Russia (12) 34. Portugal (5)
25. France (11) 35. Israel (4)
26. Puerto Rico (11) 36. Bolivia (3)
27. <Unknown> (10) 37. Cuba (2)
28. Korea (8) 38. S. Africa (2)
29. Switzerland (8) 39. Malasia (1)
30. Honduras (7) 40. Ucrania (1)
Atta Effective queries to Atta’s dynamic Web-reports
during the first 16 months of operationbetween May 2001 and Oct. 2002
Most wanted:1. Plants
2. Insects
3. Mollusks
Atta (Querying statistics from May 2001 to Oct. 2002)
Very different types of Institutions (367):
– Academic
– Museums
– Conservation institution
– International Cooperation
– Agricultural Research
– Pharmaceutical
– Internet Service Providers
Humboldt-Universitaet zu BerlinUniversite Catholique de Louvain
Australian Museum
The Nature Conservancy
Commission of the European Communities
U.S. Department of AgricultureAgriculture and Agrifood Canada
Numico Research (The Netherlands)
Tokyo Telecommunication Network Co., IncJaring (Malasya)Andinatel S.A. (Ecuador)
Decision-making & sustainable use
Last year, after a process of analyzing the impact of the institutional information in conservation and sustainable development, two important documents came out:
I) Sustainability StrategyII) Institutional Essence
Based on these, and according to the mission and vision statements, we were able to define the “Institutional Strategy for 2004-2006” and the “2004 Operative Annual Plan” to coordinate all 18 Units’ goals and activities.
Decision-making & sustainable use
I) Sustainability Strategy
1. INBio recognized as an excellence center in its biodiversity and conservation related activities
2. INBio as a flexible and efficient organization
3. INBio integrated into effective international, regional and local networks
4. INBio counts with stable financial sources (66/33)
Decision-making & sustainable use
II) Institutional Essence
It considers:What are we,What do we do,Where do we come from,Where do we want to go
to determine:a) Target audiencesb) Types of informationc) Partners
Decision-making & sustainable use
a) Prioritized target audiences– Politicians– Biodiversity Managers– Resource users– Communication media and opinion-formers– Educators and religious leaders– Conservation NGO’s
Decision-making & sustainable use
b) Types of information1. Composition, structure and function of:
– Species:• Taxonomy, abundance, density, geographical distribution,
distribution by sex and age, habitat requirements and, in general, natural history informationnatural history information.
– Genes:• Diversity among species and populations, as well as
processes that allow genetic exchange
– Ecosystems and landscapes:• Distribution, extension, fragmentation, impact, species
conforming them and ecological functions.
Decision-making & sustainable use
b) Types of information (cont.)
2.2. Conservation statusConservation status:– Representative– Efficiency of Wild Protected AreasEfficiency of Wild Protected Areas– Status of Ecological Processes
3.3. MonitoringMonitoring
4. Threats
5.5. ValuesValues and uses
6.6. Management modelsManagement models
Decision-making & sustainable use
c) Partners - collaborators
• Scientific and business communities
• Public authorities
• Donors
• Other Institutions and OrganizationsOther Institutions and Organizations
Thank you