The conservation and sustainable use of biological resources depend on an understanding of biodiversity and the processes that underlie it. While 250 years of biodiversity research and data collection have generated a wealth of information, it is scattered across a multitude of sources and formats: from museum collection specimens and local government reports to published literature and university researchers’ own computers. On top of these historical resources, today’s technological and scientific advances are generating more data in huge quantities and fresh formats. Mobilizing this information in a structured way while using common standards and common platforms not only contributes to the understanding of biodiversity, but also enables a vast range of uses, creates new research opportunities and supports policymaking at the national and global levels.
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and research infrastructure that exists to enable free and open access to biodiversity data from all sources and to support biodiversity science, environmental research, and evidence-based decision-making. GBIF operates as a federated system of distributed data publishing efforts, coordinated through a global informatics infrastructure and collaborative network.
Since GBIF’s founding in 2001, the participating countries and organizations have been testing and developing models for coordinating the mobilization, management and reuse of biodiversity data at the national level or within an organization’s scope. The formation of Participant ‘nodes’ has been central to these efforts. Designated by each Participant, these teams coordinate the needs and interests of the many stakeholders involved.
This guide draws on the experience of the GBIF network to offer guidance on establishing an effective Participant node. It targets two main audiences within the ‘GBIF family’: the delegates representing each Participant on the GBIF Governing Board, and the node managers appointed to coordinate biodiversity information facilities within each country or organization. It can also be used by countries and institutions that have not yet joined GBIF, but are making plans to do so. It introduces key concepts and generalized views of Participant node activities, including recommendations on a participatory approach to follow in designating a node, and designing its governance structures.