Why do we need primary biodiversity data?

Achieving GBIF’s vision of free and open access to the world’s biodiversity data calls for the discovery and mobilisation of primary data.

Primary biodiversity data are the digital text or multimedia data records that detail the instance of an organism – the ‘what, where, when, how and by whom’ of the organism’s occurrence and recording.

The uses of primary biodiversity data are wide and varied and encompass virtually every aspect of human endeavour – food, shelter, health, recreation, art and history, society, science and politics, etc. Such data is essential for predicting the sustainable future of our planet, and therefore of all living beings.

DIGIT

The Digitisation and mobilisation of primary biodiversity data (DIGIT) work area aims to catalyse the technical, social and political mechanisms that enable Participants to mobilise the volume, depth and density of primary biodiversity data. This allows a more useful and credible analysis using the Data Portal and web services. Developing the network’s capacity to discover and mobilise a greatly expanded array of primary biodiversity data types – beyond specimens and observational records – is critical.