GLOBAL FOREST INFORMATION SERVICE

Identifying the Need  Earth Summit 1992 (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), Rio  Agenda 21, Chapter 40:  Existing national and international mechanisms of information processing and exchange, and of related technical assistance, should be strengthened to ensure effective and equitable availability of information generated at the local, provincial, national and international levels

Finding a Forum  The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests urged international organizations, donor countries and financial institutions to enhance access to forest-related information and ...to work with IUFRO in exploring possibilities for a  global forest information service.

Why IUFRO?  Independent  Research-oriented  World-wide membership  Long involvement with information issues

Planning a Solution  World Forestry Congress 1997  Rovaniemi 1998  ICRIS 1998 International Consultation on Research and Information Systems in Forestry  IUFRO Task Force 1999  Six meetings to date

 The Harry Potter Phenomenon Get people talking Get them wanting more Sell on content Repackage for specific audiences Translate widely Seeking Examples

Send for Harry…  Challenge the nightmare  Power of the individual  With a little help from our friends  Separate good and bad  Get info from library and the Forest of Information

Core Group  20 institutions  Working as volunteers  Wide-ranging skills  Growing appreciation of library & information world methodologies – cataloguing and classification

What is GFIS?  A network of forest-related databases Spatial Statistical Bibliographic  A network of people Producers Users Intermediaries

What kind of information?  Quality information  Not censorship, but the means to decide  Accessible by anyone anywhere  Web-based but with support for non-electronic sources and users  Cross-searchable metadata  (Cross-)searching within databases

GFIS – the theory

GFIS – the reality  Two tin cans and a piece of string  Needs someone to talk and someone to listen  And vice versa

Building GFIS  IUFRO Secretariat Vienna  FAO Rome  GFIS-Africa EU funding 5 nodes  Prospects for Latin America, SE Asia, Europe

Timescale  Proof of Concept IUFRO Congress 2000 (Malaysia)  Working Prototype World Forestry Congress 2002 (Quebec)  Production service IUFRO Congress 2005 (Brisbane)

Related activities  Thesauri FAO, CABI, IUFRO  Subject gateways: BIOME, NovaGate, AgNIC, Agrigate  Virtual Library METLA  Digitisation of non-electronic sources Oxford Digital Library

What next?  6 th Meeting of GFIS Task Force  Portland, Oregon, August 2001

Activities  1 Sept 2001: GFIS Special Programme Paid full-time co-ordinator  New GFIS Projects

GFIS-Africa  Mobilizing scientific information on forests to promote their sustainable management in ACP countries  Establishment of 5 GFIS nodes in Western Africa (Ghana and Senegal), Eastern Africa (Kenya), Southern Africa (Zimbabwe) and Gabon.

GFIS-Latin America  A proposal to the World Bank Information for Development Program  Enhancing access to scientific information to promote sustainable forestry in Latin America within the framework of GFIS  27 November 2000

GFIS-North America  US Adaptive Management Area Information Portal  Information gateway for forest research sites in US Pacific Northwest

GFIS-Europe  EFIS: European Forest Information System  EC-JRC funding c. €  Jan 2001-Mar 2002  EFI, GMD, Tharandt, WCMC

Activities for  Data Provision: encourage providers to register  ‘Housekeeping’ by IUFRO Secretariat  Technical development proposal from consultant group by end of year

Activities for  Business Plan to IUFRO Management Committee Autumn 2001  GFIS Charter and Strategic Plan developed by Spring 2002

Activities for  Support for joint forestry thesaurus project  Task Force to be extended to Corresponding Members

GLOBAL FOREST INFORMATION SERVICE