For the last three decades, we have been witnessing a very rapid development of data collection, management and analysis processes in the field of biodiversity, as well as their integration into the uniform information systems that can respond to the needs of a variety of beneficiaries. There are numerous reasons that underline and push forward these processes, such as: rising global awareness on environmental issues, integration of green policies in national and global trends, development and improvement of informational technologies or IT, global communications and data sharing, the need for good and reliable data that require adequate response, and many others.
The Naturalis Biodiversity Center from Leiden, together with Netherlands Biodiversity Information Facility, hosted an international conference named Biodiversity_Next, which was financed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands. It took place in Leiden from October 22 to 25.
For the first time, the conference brought major international organizations, researchers and decision makers together, with the main goal of problem identification (socio-technical bottlenecks) and the possibilities to jointly identify opportunities around data-intensive biodiversity and geodiversity research.
During one of the panel discussions, Peter Schalk, director of Naturalis Biodiversity Center, emphasized the problems in sharing data on nature. In the beginning, according to him, even very famous research institutions and museums rejected cooperation. Of course, the position has later changed because the common interests were recognized and common projects and initiatives were established.
It is important to underline the significance of collaborative work on the establishment of an information system and the synergy of different opinions and ideas. No matter how the system is organized locally or regionally, if it covers one or more groups of organisms, it is important that it is based on the collaboration of many actors. It gives the system a better chance to respond to numerous demands of its users.
CENTER FOR PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2008-2016.