The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is pleased to announce that Dr. Andy Jarvis is the winner of the Ebbe Nielsen Prize for 2009. Chaired by Dr. Erick Mata, from INBIO, Costa Rica the GBIF Science Committee reviewed the submissions against the stringent criteria especially that of "combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an exciting and novel way".

Jarvis was trained as a geographer at King’s College (London), and is a senior scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Bioversity International in Colombia. His expertise in environmental modeling, geographic information science and tropical ecology has made him an acknowledged leader in international projects in agrobiodiversity. Jarvis focuses on environmental modeling to improve the conservation and use of species related to agriculture and food security, and in particular to predict the impacts of climate change. His networks include membership in the IUCN Specialist Group for Wild Relatives of Crop Plants. He applies himself to training and capacity building in GIS, and the supervision of students and new professionals, in particular in Latin America. Dr. Jarvis is the author of major datasets related to global climate, topography and water resources, and is the co-author of the freely available GIS mapping software called DIVA-GIS. Dr Jarvis recently lead the presentation of a number of papers at the International Association of Research Universities Climate Change Conference, on the usefulness of data accessible via the GBIF infrastructure for modeling climate change impacts on tropical forests, agricultural production and the potential for finding drought-tolerant crop wild relatives to enable adaptation to climate change. The GBIF Science Committee were impressed by Jarvis’ demonstrated innovative research applications and are confident that he is a worthy recipient of this prestigious award.

Dr Jarvis was overjoyed upon hearing the news of his award, and his response neatly encapsulates the spirit of the Ebbe Nielsen Prize: “Like most good things in life, the achievements that led to this award were developed very much through a team effort. I might be British, but my team are all from Latin America, are all under 30, are all geniuses and should feel that they too won this award. I certainly plan on using this prize to continue to support young researchers from this continent in using spatial analysis for biodiversity conservation and use”

The €30,000 prize will be formally awarded to Dr. Jarvis at a special event on the evening of October 6th and a presentation by Dr. Jarvis will be the first event of the day-long GBIF Science Symposium on October 7th 2009, during the annual GBIF Governing Board meeting (GB16) in Copenhagen, Denmark.