INSIDE IABIN:

IABIN Seeks GBIF Associate Membership

The Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) has indicated its interest in becoming an associate member of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (see related story, page 1). The goals of GBIF align well with those of IABIN, and the implementation of IABIN will fulfill the biodiversity information-sharing requirements for GBIF membership. By early March, seven IABIN Focal Points and a number of additional IABIN participants had indicated their concurrence with IABIN moving forward within GBIF. When a majority of IABIN Focal Points signal their concurrence, the United States, as Chair of the IABIN Council, will sign the GBIF Memorandum of Understanding, and IABIN will seat a delegation at the next meeting of the GBIF Governing Board, scheduled for Bonn, Germany, in June 2001.

IABIN is developing a directory of institutions, organizations, and individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean that actively participate in invasive species programs. Of particular interest are organizations or institutions that are the points of coordination for, or leaders in, the research and management of invasive species in their country. Opportunities may exist in the future for collaborations among Latin American and Caribbean organizations and the United States to share experiences in dealing with invasive species, and this directory would be a first step in identifying potential partners. Please send any pertinent information to iabinteam@usgs.gov.

Improving IABIN Communications

The USGS Center for Biological Informatics has set up iabinfriends, a new listserv for friends and partners of IABIN to encourage the exchange of ideas and facilitate consensus-building. About once a month, the IABIN Planning Team will also provide an IABIN news update via the listserv. If you would like to subscribe, send mail from your e-mail account to <Majordomo@monarch.cr.usgs.gov> with the command "subscribe iabinfriends" (without the quotes) in the body of your e-mail message.

The U.S. IABIN Web site (http://www.iabin-us.org) is being reorganized and improved to provide better access to the results of IABIN projects and to promote communication. Through the improved Web site, users will be able to send feedback about the site or subscribe to the iabinfriends listserv with just the click of a button. Additional links to the sites of partners and other relevant organizations will be added. You are invited to suggest improvements and new links to be added to the list at http://www.iabin-us.org/information_links/index.html.

IABIN is an initiative of the Summit of the Americas to promote exchange of biodiversity information throughout the Americas to support decision-making and education. The international IABIN Web site can be found at http://www.iabin.org.