Mission
The objectives of the Andorran GBIF node are to promote knowledge, collect data and share biological information. The Andorran GBIF node aims to be a referent institution with regards to biodiversity information for Andorra’s decision makers and the general public.
The Andorran GBIF node is a part of CENMA, which itself is a part of the Andorran Research Institute (Institut d’Estudis Andorrans), a governmental entity from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
Funding
The Andorra GBIF node is funded by the Snow and Mountain Research Center of Andorra which is itself funded by the Andorran Research Institute. The Head of Delegation and Node Manager of Andorra are employed by the Snow and Mountain Research Center of Andorra and manage additional projects besides GBIF.
The basic financial contribution to GBIF is made by the Institute d´Estudis Andorrans.
History
In 2005, the Snow and Mountain Research Center of Andorra (CENMA, Centre d’Estudis de la Neu i de la Muntanya d’Andorra) founded a biodiversity data gathering and consulting application called the Biodiversity Information System of Andorra (SIBA). In 2010, CENMA joined GBIF to spread the information collected in SIBA.
CENMA was appointed as the GBIF representative by the Andorran Government and currently manages the national biodiversity database.
In 2018, the CENMA, with the collaboration of GBIF-Spain, has presented a new application for consulting the different datasets of biodiversity from Andorra. The website of this new tool is http://www.gbif.ad and it is called SIBAD.
Structure
CENMA is a research center that collects environmental and biodiversity data. The data are generated by the Centre itself and by other Andorran organizations.
Besides CENMA, other organizations, such as the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Sustainablity of the Government of Andorra, and the Natural Parks supply data. The data are gathered in SIBAD, and can also be consulted on GBIF.org.