1. "INTER-AMERICAN BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION NETWORK (IABIN)"
Summary of IABIN Progress since 4th Council meeting to April 2007
Fifth IABIN Council Meeting
__________________
May 9-11, 2007
Punta del Este, Uruguay

2. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
The IABIN initiative at the mid point of the implementation of the “Building of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information” GEF–Project (May 2007), is making steady progress on a number of fronts in its mission to create a hemispheric biodiversity information network:
The Secretariat is functioning with the support of CoK
The first IEC meeting took place in June 2006 in Washington were a series of mandates and agreements were reached to:
Implement the TNs
Facilitate a broad participation of the national partners in the implementation of the TNs (infrastructure development, training events, data-content building grants)
Guide the process to implement Component 3 –Value-added tools

3. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Review process by which CIs were chosen
MoC’s between the IEC and the CIs were signed for the implementation of the TNs and Transfer Agreements between OAS and the CIs were adopted in order to foster a more collegial relationship between IEC, CIs, OAS, and Secretariat for the development of the TNs
As of today, Coordinating Institutions (CIs) of the five IABIN Thematic Networks (Invasive Species, I3N, Species & Specimens, Protected Areas, Pollinators, and Ecosystems) have been chosen.
These TNs are operational

4. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Secretariat developed a methodological guide for TN technical development (a matrix) entitled “Overview of IABIN Thematic Networks Development Based on an Information Systems Approach.”
IABIN has adopted architecture of BioBot for its Catalog. Further development of the IABIN Biobot (Catalog) will be shortly underway
Network architecture has been proposed through specific standards and coordination among TNs (through work of IT TWG)
IABIN BioBot and ETN (geospatial data) will be key elements to facilitate interoperability between TNs
Secretariat prepared a Monitoring and Evaluation Methodology (M&E) to asses execution and impact of the project as established in Annex 1 Project Design Summary of the Project Implementation Plan (PIP)

5. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
The IABIN network portal has been updated and has a new design making it easier to navigate. It facilitates the process of obtaining basic information and provides the platform for the integration of the TNs ( It is receiving an average of 6,800 visits per month, and an average of over 108,106 hits per month
Each one of the TNs has build their WebPages by the end of this year some will be in the capacity to serve data (I3N, SSTN, ETN)
The IABIN-DGF project for the IABIN Connectivity Program is fully operational ( This portal has a geo-integrator that allows integration of biological and geospatial data, as well as other decision-support tools and training materials
The first participatory Annual Work Plan (AWP) was prepared for 2007; Total Budget: US$4,231,088 (US$2,157,290 IABIN-GEF; US$2,081,718 Co-financing)

6. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
The SSTN held the first meeting of its Thematic Working Group (TWG) in San Jose, Costa Rica, on 28 August – 1 September, 2006 to discuss “use cases”, establish standards, and plan the development of the their portal. They have prepared a design for the network portal and data entry tools
The PTN held the first meeting of its Thematic Working Group in Indaiatuba, Brazil, on December, 2006 to discuss structure and standards for the development of this TN
The IABIN Invasive Species Thematic Network (I3N) held the second meeting of its Thematic Working Group in San José, Costa Rica, November 22-23rd (2006) and the third one here in Uruguay, May 7-8th (2007)

7. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
IABIN Data Providers Meetings were carried out in Argentina, Dominican Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, and Ecuador
The first Request for Proposals for Specimens was published on October 12. Fifteen proposals were received by the deadline (Five were awarded grants)
The second Request for Proposals for Invasive Species (I3N) was published on October 8. Five proposals were received by the deadline and awarded grants
The IABIN Secretariat participated in the GBIF13 meeting that took place in Iquitos, Peru on 2-6 October, Work is underway to elaborate a joint work program based on identified areas of common interest

8. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
The IABIN jointly with the Institute von Humboldt, CYTED, and GBIF carried out a 4-day workshop “Iberian-American Workshop for the exchange of Biodiversity Information”, from 3-6 December, Here the Thematic Networks 2007 work plans were reviewed and commented upon, a prioritization exercise for decision support tools was conducted, and a review of current advances on decision support tools was presented
The IABIN Secretariat has worked with the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), IPGH and USGS-EROS Data Center, and others to design and execute the GeoSur Program. This program will, among other things, help expand the IABIN GeoSpatial Network to South America. For the first year of this program IABIN will execute ca. US$50K

9. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
The IABIN Secretariat jointly with the Association of American Geographers (AAG), World Conservation Society (WCS)-Belize office, and Virginia Tech. University prepared the pre-proposal “Enhancing Knowledge for Establishing Ecosystem Conservation Priorities in the Neotropics by Integrating Biodiversity and Geospatial Data,” which was submitted to the JRS Biodiversity Foundation for US$200K
The IABIN Secretariat and the DGF Project secured a US$80K donation of ArcIMS software from ESRI to be distributed among environmental organizations from South America participating in the ETN and the GeoSur Program
The second year work plan for the IABIN-DGF project was prepared and submitted to the WB. This was approved, thereby, allowing access to a total of US$ from WB ( ) with a co-finance of US$ from participant institutions. Total support from the WB–DGF initiative to the IABIN Connectivity Program: US$

10. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Two proposals submitted for Internal Competition under the World Bank’s Trust Fund for Environmentally & Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD) were approved.
Developing Guidelines for Management of Environmental Information in World Bank and IADB projects (US$40K)
Integrating Ecosystem and Species Data into Disease Forecasting Models (200K)
USGS-NBII support for Secretariat salary (US$15K) and training (10K)
IABIN has been approached by Environmental Consulting firms to provide services (mostly on biodiversity information management and training) under bidding proposals they are submitting

11. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
IABIN Semester, IEC meeting, and TNs quarter reports are posted on the Network’s portal
Secretariat developed several discussion papers containing recommendations for discussion during this Fifth IABIN Council Meeting. This were distributed in advance and are also available at the IABIN web portal
It is expected that the IABIN Council, upon considerations of the recommendations, will made decisions on them and establish specific actions items to be followed up by Secretariat, IEC, OAS, and other Network members

12. Secretariat Iván Valdespino, Director. ivaldespino@iabin
Secretariat Iván Valdespino, Director Rita Besana, Data Content Manager Boris Ramírez, TN Coordinator Ciudad del Saber, Edificio 801, Clayton, República de Panamá Telephones: and Fax: www. iabin.net
Muito Obrigado
Gracias
Thank you
Some of our partners:
CAF, CCAD, CI, CIAT, City of Knowledge, Eros Data Center, MACGA, NASA, USGS-NBII, Fund. Boticario, TNC, IUCN, WWF, WICE, NatureServe, Ecociencia, UNEP-WCMC, I. von Humboldt, CATHALAC, SERVIR, WB.

13. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Species & Specimens Thematic Network
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Lead Institution)
Costa Rica
Red de Herbarios de Centroamérica y el Caribe (RHCC)
Mesoamerica & Caribbean
Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales
Argentina
Inst. de Inv. de Rec. Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt
Colombia
NatureServe
USA / Int.

14. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Protected Area Thematic Network
Fundação O Boticário (Lead Institution)
Brazil
ECOCIENCIA
Ecuador
The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
USA / Int.
Inst. de Inv. de Rec. Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt
Colombia
WWF
International
UICN – Union Mundial para la Naturaleza
Int. / S.A.
World Inst. for Conservation and Environment (WICE)
Netherlands
UNEP – WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Center)

15. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Pollinators Thematic Network
Coevolution Institute (CoE) (Lead Institution)
USA
University of Sao Paulo
Brazil
Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA)
National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
USA / Int.

16. Summary of IABIN Progress (cont.)
Ecosystems Thematic Network
Smithsonian Tropical research Institute (Lead Institution)
USA / Int.
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Costa Rica
Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales
Argentina
The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
NatureServe
Fundação O Boticário
Brazil