TERMS OF REFERENCE
ORGANIZATION AND COORDINATION OF IABIN
BACKGROUND
In December 1996, leaders of the governments of the Americas met at the Santa Cruz (Bolivia) Summit on Sustainable Development. Government leaders recognized the importance of reliable and accurate information on biodiversity in decision-making and the need for cooperation among the countries of the Western Hemisphere to link information sources together. Summit leaders agreed to:
Seek to establish an Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network, primarily through the Internet, that will promote compatible means of collection, communication and exchange of information relevant to decision-making and education on biodiversity conservation, and that builds upon such initiatives such as the Clearing-House Mechanism provided for in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the Man and the Biosphere Network (MABNet), and the Biodiversity Conservation Information System (BCIS), an initiative of nine IUCN programs and partners.
The above declaration, Initiative 31, prompted a series of informal meetings among interested
parties, which were followed by two OAS-supported Experts' Meetings regarding the
establishment of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN). At the last
Experts' Meeting (January 1998), the United States Geological Survey, Biological Resource
Division (USGS/BRD) announced the availability of funds from an inter-agency agreement with
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These funds are designed to help
support planning of the IABIN concept by addressing key issues deemed important and of mutual
interests to planning experts. By focusing on such issues, IABIN will advance from the concept
phase to start-up operations.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Interest in information resources is not a recent phenomenon for governments and non-government organizations of the Americas. In the 1970's, there was an intense effort in Latin America, for example, to develop "documentation centers," or "centros de documentación." These centers consisted largely of collections of documents in a particular technical subject area, filed in boxes. Access to and distribution of information depended exclusively on copier machines or visits to the center.
With the information revolution, the advent of the Internet and increased interest in biodiversity, experts involved in the planning of IABIN recognized the importance and potential to "leap frog" into the information age, utilizing modern technologies. IABIN is envisioned to be an Internet-based network that will greatly enhance the exchange of biodiversity information among government and non-government organizations, and the public in general. The proliferation of information in disparate locations, accessed and exchanged by different methods, however, does not necessarily translate into an effective and modern information system.
IABIN experts have made a preliminary attempt to define some of the characteristics of the IABIN vision. The IABIN information network:
Fundamental to successful operation is the manner in which IABIN should be organized and coordinated. IABIN must be able to promote and facilitate cooperation among a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental institutions. The organization and coordination of IABIN could be modeled a number of different ways: self-management, with or without a secretariat, by a steering committee or a committee of the whole; oversight by an international organization; establishment of a formal central institution, etc. This Terms of Reference therefore addresses three basic issues. Issue number (1) can be incorporated into the discussion of either issue numbers two or three:
(1) How do we define who can use the IABIN name?
(2) How should IABIN be organized?
(3) What functions or activities should it carry out.
GOAL STATEMENT
IABIN experts plan to meet in Brazil in the near future to launch IABIN. The goal of this Terms
of Reference shall be to present at the Brazil meeting of experts a recommended structure for the
governance of IABIN generally accepted by the study participants that can be considered for
acceptance and implementation as the operational model for the organization and coordination of
IABIN.
OBJECTIVE
In response to this TOR, options or models of how IABIN could be organized and coordinated will be defined, analyzed, and evaluated. All options or models will provide for IABIN sustainability in the short-term (1-2 years) and promote growth and expansion of IABIN in the long-term. Case studies of a particular model should be included whenever possible, and should include but not be limited to the North American Biodiversity Information Network (NABIN), the Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD), and the Inter-American Water Resources Network (IWRN). Similar international networks in scientific and technical disciplines other than biodiversity, but which have similar information exchange goals to those of IABIN, may also be considered as models for IABIN.
It is a particular objective of this TOR to engage as many of the IABIN experts as appropriate in
the evaluation of possible models for the organization and coordination of IABIN in order to
ensure a variety of experiences are considered. These key IABIN participants will be consulted
to solicit their input and to obtain their general support of the model eventually proposed.
WORK PLAN
1. Review IABIN literature and that of similar efforts in biodiversity information exchange.
2. Solicit input from representatives of other similar network and organizational concepts in order to discern possible models, and lessons learned from their experiences.
3. Review existing literature and communicate with key IABIN experts regarding their experiences to date in national networks or sub-regional networks.
4. Assess existing experiences in networking and describe the key principles which should be observed in the establishment of a governance structure for IABIN.
5. Describe the various models discovered and evaluated, and provide an assessment of how well each would meet the key principles discerned in task 4.
6. Recommend a governance model for IABIN that meets the key principles and that is generally acceptable to the IABIN study participants.
7. Complete a final report of the findings and prepare a presentation for the Brazil meeting discussing the recommended model(s).
Other IABIN studies are being performed concurrently with this study of governance structures.
Therefore, personnel performing this study should communicate and interact with participants of
other IABIN studies to promote synergy and ensure that cross-study issues are appropriately
addressed.
DELIVERABLES AND TIMETABLE
All deliverables shall consist of four (4) paper copies, accompanied by a WP6.0 or 7.0 file of the
deliverable on 3.5" floppy diskette. Schedule for deliverables follows:
|
DELIVERABLES |
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE (Weeks after Award) |
| Prepare draft report describing models and case histories; circulate draft to IABIN experts and USGS/BRD specialists | 12 |
| Receive comments on draft report | 14 |
| Prepare and submit final report | 15 |
| Distribute final report via Internet and in hard copy as directed | 16 |
| Upon approval of final report, prepare presentation for Brazil meeting | 16 |
ANNEX
The following components of governance are offered as an optional guide to the scope of issues which may be considered in defining and subsequently developing the proposed structure:
A. Mission statement and coordinating functions of IABIN;
B. Composition and authority of any decision-making or oversight group(s); associated with IABIN (such as a sponsoring organization);
C. Duties and functions of IABIN coordinating group(s);
D. Manner of election/appointment/removal of coordinating group(s) members;
E. Role of IABIN focal points;
F. Participation and involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
G. Characteristics of interactions between government organizations, non-government organizations, and civil sector in general
H. IABIN membership criteria, including a variety of types of membership (full, associate, regular, sponsoring, etc.), if applicable;
I. Approval process for members, if applicable;
J. Membership registration/commitment for participation process;
K. Membership dues and other obligations, if applicable;
L. Human resource requirements for administrative, financial, communication, and other coordinating functions of IABIN;
M. Estimate of IABIN start-up costs (first 1-2 years);
N. Plan for financial sustainability (dues, fees, sponsoring grants, etc.) for both the short- and long-term;
O. Possible legal status of IABIN configurations and corresponding institutional issues surrounding those configurations. For example: