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The current availability of Earth habitat observations and species-level and ecosystem biodiversity data is poor. This is particularly true with respect to co-ordination and data sharing among countries, organisations and disciplines, and meeting the needs of sustainable development. There are large spatial and temporal gaps in data coverage.
Wouter Los, Coordinator of LIFEWATCH (e-science and technology infrastructure for biodiversity data and observatories), said "The Global Biodiversity Information Facility has made much progress in providing access to interoperable databases, but has to rely on the data-providers to maintain the databases over the long term." In general, there is an eroding observational infrastructure and inadequate long-term data archiving. Targeted collective action under the new EU policy for a coordinated approach in the field of research infrastructures is a feasible solution to these issues.
GBIF Executive Secretary Nicholas King spoke at the LIFEWATCH launch event, commenting on the planned interlinkages of ecological monitoring data from marine and terrestrial environments with the vast amount of data in biological collections and genomic databases. Los replied, "This development became possible because GBIF paved the way with its common gateway to species-level data."
LIFEWATCH plans to construct and bring into operation the facilities, hardware and software and governance structures to create a biodiversity research infrastructure with:
- infrastructure networks for data generation and processing
- facilities for data integration and interoperability
- virtual laboratories with analytical and modelling tools
- Service Centre for users and to promote research opportunities
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