From:
NBII Access Newsletter
Newsletter of the National Biological
Information Infrastructure
Spring 2004 (Volume 7, Number
2)
The City of Knowledge (Ciudad del Saber), in Panama City, Panama, has been
selected by the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Biodiversity
Information Network (IABIN) to host the IABIN Secretariat, which will be
established late in 2004. Located on a former U.S. military base near the Panama
Canal, the City of Knowledge is an international center for education, research,
and innovation created to promote synergies among universities, scientific
research centers, and businesses. More information is available on their Web
site at <http://www.ciudaddelsaber.org.pa>. In its bid for the IABIN
Secretariat, the City of Knowledge offered, at no expense to IABIN, office space
for Secretariat staff and associated consultants, high-end workstations,
high-speed Internet access and telecommunications, plus a variety of other
amenities necessary to support the Secretariat.
In response to a Request
for Proposals, three organizations submitted proposals: The U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), the Paraguayan office of the Organization of American States, and
the City of Knowledge. The USGS bid, which included the expertise of the staff
of the NBII and its partners, was a front-runner; however, its central location
in Latin America tipped the decision to the Panama site. USGS will continue its
strong support of IABIN, and the NBII will host a mirror site of the IABIN
gateway, which will be located at the City of Knowledge site. The NBII will also
continue its leadership of the IABIN Invasives Information Network (I3N) and
will actively participate in other IABIN initiatives, including the species,
specimen, and protected areas thematic networks, among others.
The IABIN
Secretariat is expected to be operational by the end of 2004, pending the award
of funds from the Global Environment Fund (GEF) for the IABIN implementation
project. GEF funds will support the salaries of the Secretariat director and an
administrative assistant; two implementation project consultants will be
co-located with the Secretariat for the 5-year duration of that effort.
Additional Secretariat staff will be added as funding from other sources becomes
available.
IABIN <http://www.iabin.net/> is an initiative of
the countries of the Americas to promote compatible means of collection,
communication, and exchange of biodiversity information relevant to
decision-making and education using the Internet. Information on U.S.
participation in IABIN is available at <http://www.iabin-us.org/>.