Joint meeting of the IABIN Council and the CHM Regional group for Latin America and the Caribbean

REUNION CONJUNTA DEL CONSEJO IABIN Y DEL GRUPO REGIONAL CHM PARA LATINOAMERICA Y EL CARIBE

This was the largest biodiversity informatics conference in history. The meeting brought together key participants in the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) and the Clearing-house Mechanism (CHM) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Also participating were the CHM Program Director of the CBD Secretariat, Marcos Silva; the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Node Managers from the GBIF member countries in the Americas; representatives of international and national NGOs; academic institutions; state, local, and tribal governments; and the private sector. Gladys Cotter, USGS Associate Biologist for Information and Chair of the IABIN Council, presided at the meeting together with the Jorge Soberón, elected as CHM Chair for this meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to harmonize the visions of IABIN, CHM, and GBIF for biodiversity information networking in the Americas and jointly plan complementary activities that support the goals of these initiatives.