From: NBII Access Newsletter
Newsletter of the National Biological Information
Infrastructure
Summer 2004 (Volume 7, Number
3)
With support from countries throughout the Americas and pledges of
participation and co-financing from over 70 institutions hemisphere-wide, the
Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) has been awarded a
Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant through the World Bank. This award is
the culmination of a four-year effort, beginning in 2000 with a proposal to GEF
seeking project development funds. This effort defined the vision for IABIN,
planned its implementation, and sought participants committed to sharing
biodiversity information to support decision-making and education, the mandate
for IABIN as included in the Summit of the Americas Santa Cruz Plan of Action,
December 1996.
The World Bank’s Board approved the “GEF Trust Fund Grant
to the Organization of American States – Building the Inter-American
Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN)” on June 29, 2004. It was previously
approved by the GEF Chief Executive Officer after consideration and comment by
the GEF Council as a whole. IABIN will receive $6 million from the GEF towards
the $35-million, 5-year implementation project. (The Project Implementation Plan
for this effort is at <http://www.iabin.net/>.) Co-financing of about $29 million
has been identified from 76 regional or national institutions and programs.
Agreements with the primary biodiversity informatics institutions throughout the
Americas were forged based on data-sharing priorities of these institutions and
mandates from the first three IABIN Council Meetings.
The Organization of
American States (OAS), as Executing Agency of the GEF grant, is completing
arrangements with the World Bank. Once those details have been satisfactorily
addressed, the Bank will make the first disbursement to the OAS and the project
will officially begin. The OAS is currently recruiting key personnel for the
IABIN Secretariat, which will be established at the City of Knowledge in Panama.
Information on Secretariat positions is available on the IABIN Web site <http://www.iabin.net/>. The
Secretariat is expected to be staffed and operational by late 2004. Information
on IABIN, as well as the GEF IABIN Implementation Program, can also be found on
the NBII-supported U.S. Node for IABIN at <http://www.iabin-us.org/>.
IABIN 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.