A pilot project to help digitise data captured by the network of camera traps in India has been launched in a collaboration between Norwegian and Indian scientific institutions.

The Norwegian government is providing 1.2 million Norwegian Kroner (€154,000) towards the two-year project, aimed at enhancing capacity to use biodiversity informatics in support of decision-making and nature management.

It is a response to Norway’s support for capacity building under the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

The project is led by the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) and the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC), in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the University of Oslo (UIO).  The GBIF Secretariat will act in an advisory role.

A key aim of the project is to help mobilise the wealth of information from unprocessed wildlife images collected over the years by WII in India’s protected areas and biodiversity corridors, using cameras triggered by infrared or motion sensors to photograph passing animals.

Training courses and workshops will be held in which Indian scientists and technicians will improve skills and tools to digitise information from camera traps using relevant international data exchange standards. Other issues to be addressed will include dealing with sensitive location data regarding threatened species, intellectual property rights and use of ecological niche modelling.

Expected outcomes of the project include:

• a substantial amount of new data and metadata records involving Indian biodiversity will be published through the GBIF network using Indian and Norwegian providers.
• A best-practice guide and other training resources will be produced, helping to inform similar projects and initiatives in future.
• Experience from the pilot project will help to develop techniques and capacity for digitising camera trap and sensitive data in other parts of the GBIF network.

Funding for the pilot project is coming from the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Directorate of Nature Management.

Two of the collaborating institutions, WII and University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum, are the locations of the GBIF participant nodes in their respective countries.

For more information please contact:

NINA: Frank Hanssen
NBIC: Nils Valland
University of Oslo: Einar Timdal
WII: Vinod Mathur
GBIF: Alberto González-Talaván

Photo credit:Abishek Harihar/Imam Hussain/WII