History
The Head of Delegation for GBIF India is Mr. Hem Pande, Additional Secretary from Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MEFCC). The mandate of the GBIF India nodes broadly includes: (1) building, consolidating and expanding informatics infrastructure; and (2) capacity building and networking.
Mission
The vision is to contribute towards ecological sustainability and economic growth and increase and improvise discovery, accessibility, completeness and utility of existing and new biodiversity data and information, which will ensure free and open access to the nation’s biodiversity data at anytime, anyplace, to anyone under an agreed framework.
The mission is to promote and enable free and open access to Indian biodiversity data through a distributed and Internet-based network of data custodians and publishers to underpin science, conservation and sustainable development.
Structure
The National Network of GBIF India Nodes is organized in following manner: Head of Delegation: MEFCC; Coordinating Node: Wildlife Institute of India; Thematic Nodes: (1) Wildlife Institute of India (Protected Areas); (2) National Biodiversity Authority; (3) Zoological Survey of India (Vertebrates and Insects); (4) Botanical Survey of India (Angiosperms (Herbarium and Flora)); (5) Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (Medicinal Plants).
Each Thematic Node is represented by a Node Manager and works as per the direction of the Head of Delegation.
Funding
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MEFCC), India provides funds to the institutes under its umbrella as Grants in Aid. The GBIF-India Nodes housed within these institutes do not have a separate allocation, but are encouraged to raise funds to fulfil their mandate.
