Centre for biodiversity and natural products (CBNP), University of Papua New Guinea

Description

Centre for Biodiversity and Natural Products (CBNP) is a research establishment within the University Papua New Guinea (UPNG) devoted to (i) natural history collections curation and management (ii) capacity building and training for collections managers (iii) strengthening research capacity at the institutional level (iv) teaching and mentoring students at all levels (undergraduate to postgraduate) (v) biological research and conservation (vi) providing technical expertise, training and advice on biodiversity and taxonomy to interested individuals and institutions. The CBNP is a member of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) that recently received funding to make available online the resources held by its collections. The centre comprises four taxonomically important collections: Herbarium (23, 933 plant specimens), Entomology (14, 000 insect specimens), Zoology (Mammals, Amphibians and Reptiles (13, 900 specimens), and the PNG National Fish Collection (c. 10, 000 specimens), majority of which have significant historic value. With the current GBIF funding, the CBNP aims to: 1) train collection managers on data entry, data cleaning and standardisation and data publishing, 2) organise and clean existing database held in different collections in the centre, 3) publish the data on the GBIF platform The data mobilisation and digitisation project is a collaborative effort between the UPNG and Forest Research Institute (FRI). The GBIF has made it possible for the strengthening of links and collaborative relationship between the two PNG’s national institutions. This encourages a good national network for collaboration and research in Papua New Guinea.

Contacts

TECHNICAL_POINT_OF_CONTACT
Janet Gagul
Telephone: +67572329121
email: gagulj@upng.ac.pg

POINT_OF_CONTACT
Janet Gagul
Telephone: +67572329121
email: gagulj@upng.ac.pg

Centre for biodiversity and natural products (CBNP), University of Papua New Guinea
Biological Sciences, Box 320, Uni PO
Port Moresby
NCD
PG
email: gagulj@upng.ac.pg