Key Innovations in Biodiversity

1

• Key Innovations in Biodiversity
• Informatics

2
Opportunities (and challenges) for biodiversity
information management in Brazil

• Biggest biodiversity in the world
• Poor integration among institutions, specially
  for those
• located in remote biodiversity-rich areas
• Development of low cost standards and protocols
  (software in the public domain, open platforms,
  etc)
• Unbalanced communication services among regions

3
Biodiversity informatics and decision making

• Planning and monitoring conservation strategies
• Modeling the impacts of climate change on
  biodiversity and other complex systems
  (agriculture, public health, etc)
• Defining research priorities and strategies
• Decision making support systems for governmental
  regulatory agencies (oil gas, energy, mining,
  water resources, etc)

4
Limitations to the use of biodiversity
information for decision making processes

• Lack of integration among different sources of
  available information, mainly at the different
  levels of biodiversity (ecosystem, inter-specific
  and intra-specific)
• Poor integration among specialists working at
  different levels (ecologists, botanists, genebank
  curators and breeders, etc.)
• Lack of information technology to make 1. and 2.
  possible

5
Information technology as a key factor in
promoting development
Source CGIAR Challenge Program Full Proposal
(2002) Unlocking Genetic Diversity in Crops for
the Resource Poor
6
Priority activities to promote biodiversity
information development in Brazil

• Strengthen Brazilian capacity and current
  experiences in biodiversity information
  management (BINBr www.binbr.org.br Biota-SP
  Environment Information System www.sinbiota.cria.o
  rg.br Culture Collection Brazilian Information
  System www.sicol.cria.org.br and others)
• Strengthen international cooperation with similar
  activities at regional and global levels (GBIF
  www.gbif.org Species 2000 www.sp2000.org
  Species Analyst www.speciesanalyst.net
  Interamerican Biodiversity Network IABIN
  www.iabin.org and others

7
Mechanisms and strategies to promote information
technology and innovation in biodiversity

• Additional federal funding coming from distinct
  private sources (fundos setoriais), having
  environment and biodiversity as an important
  cross-cutting issue
• Combine federal and state funding and expertise
  to increase leverage of research capacity

8
The challenge ahead

• How to integrate national and international
  initiatives into a organized, well-resourced
  national approach to build and manage
  biodiversity information through collaborative
  efforts, for the benefit of the conservation and
  sustainable use of biodiversity at all levels.

9
Thank you!

• Marcio de Miranda Santos
• Executive Director
• Center for Strategic Management and Studies on
• Science, Technology and Innovation - CGEE
• www.cgee.org.br