What is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility?
GBIF enables free and open access to biodiversity data online. We’re an international government-initiated and funded initiative focused on making biodiversity data available to all and anyone, for scientific research, conservation and sustainable development.
GBIF provides three core services and products:
- An information infrastructure – an Internet-based index of a globally distributed network of interoperable databases that contain primary biodiversity data – information on museum specimens, field observations of plants and animals in nature, and results from experiments – so that data holders across the world can access and share them
- Community-developed tools, standards and protocols – the tools data providers need to format and share their data
- Capacity-building – the training, access to international experts and mentoring programs that national and regional institutions need to become part of a decentralised network of biodiversity information facilities.
Why do we need bioinformatics?
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment showed that human actions often lead to irreversible losses in the diversity of life, and these losses have been more rapid in the past 50 years than ever before in human history.
Globally, the two great destroyers of biodiversity are habitat destruction and spread of alien invasive species.[i] Other prominent stressors causing species extinctions include climate change outcomes, overexploitation and pollution.[ii]
Biological diversity is key to resilience – the ability of natural and social systems to adapt to change, and is essential for nearly every aspect of human well-being. In order for ecosystems to provide sustainable life-support services, ranging from food security, resilience to natural disasters, and access to clean water and raw materials, it matters which species are abundant as well as how many species are present. Because human threats to biodiversity occur across large spatial and temporal scales, biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring, forecasting, and risk assessments require data to be organised in a globally-accessible, integrated infrastructure.
GBIF’s Data Portal provides this infrastructure.
