Achievements of GBIF in Asia
Sheila Vergara, node manager of ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity
Tsuyoshi Hosoya, node manager of Japan, GBIF Asian nodes representative
Yu-Huang Wang, node manager of Taiwan, GBIF Asian nodes representative deputy

Global Biodiversity Information Facility
A connectedcommunity• Building collaborative solutions and resources• Enabling national and institutional data mobilization• Promoting cost-effective open access to data

An informatics
infrastructure• Guiding biodiversity data management and publication• Helping ensure data persistence• Increasing recognition and visibility for sharing data

A window onbiodiversity• Offering one-stop shop for ‘big data’ on biodiversity• Creating a virtual natural history museum to support taxonomy• Enabling access to images, sounds and video of specimens and observations

A tool forscience andsociety• Supporting national and global information needs• Enabling applied, policy-relevant research• Complementing existing investments and initiatives
GBIF brochure, 2016 edition

Participation ofGBIF in Asia
• Voting Participant –Republic of Korea (2001)• Associate Country Participant –Japan (2001), Pakistan (2001),India (2003), Indonesia (2004), Philippines (2005)• Other Associate Participant –Chinese Taipei (2001),
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (2009),
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (2009),
Chinese Academy of Sciences (2013)

Data sharing and repatriation

Biodiversity data of Asian countries mediated by GBIF
Occurrence Occurrence
Country
datasets
records
Bangladesh
191
76,277
Bhutan134
62,742
Brunei Darussalam
133
27,430
Cambodia
213
110,952
China
969 2,459,373
Hong Kong
183
211,929
India
926 3,440,504
Indonesia
819 1,638,738
Japan
1,139 3,959,865
DPR Korea
188
13,409Republic of Korea
476 1,635,384
Lao PDR
247
97,924
Macao
31
1,546
Malaysia
622
829,921
159
58,113
Maldives
Mongolia
307
171,606

Checklist
dataset
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

Occurrence Occurrence
Country
Datasets
Records
Myanmar382
121,927
Nepal
402
186,526
Pakistan
437
220,537
Palau
208
99,568
Papua New Guinea
593 1,100,070
Philippines
710 1,004,060
Singapore
365
85,122
Sri Lanka
509
217,013
Taiwan571 1,919,449
Thailand
627
960,614
Timor-Leste
89
15,085
Viet Nam518
295,892

Total:
12,148 Occurrence datasets
21,021,576 Occurrence records
5 checklist datasets

Checklist
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/AN/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4
N/A
N/A
N/A

Data papers• Narwade S, Kalra M, Jagdish R, et al (2011) Literature based species
occurrence data of birds of northeast India. Zookeys 417:407–17. doi:
10.3897/zookeys.150.2002• Shao K-T, Lin J, Wu C-H, et al (2012) A dataset from bottom trawl
survey around Taiwan. Zookeys 109:103–9. doi:
10.3897/zookeys.198.3032• Huang C-W, Hsiung T-W, Lin S-M, Wu W-L (2013) Molluscan fauna of
Gueishan Island, Taiwan. Zookeys 13:1–13. doi:
10.3897/zookeys.261.4197• Shao K, Lin J, Yeh H, et al (2014) A Dataset of Deep-Sea Fishes
Surveyed by Research Vessels in the Waters around Taiwan. Zookeys
466:103–110. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.466.8523

Mobilizing Data in Asia through

Capacity building on biodiversity informatics• BIFA—the Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia—is theoutcome of a contribution from the Ministry of theEnvironment, Government of Japan, earmarked for activities
in Asia.
• Activities supported by BIFA
• helped establish and strengthen national biodiversity information facilities,• expanded the GBIF network in the region and• Improved the capacity of Asian researchers and decision-makers to accessdata required for the management of the region’s biodiversity.
• Were selected among proposals submitted by members of the network

Strengthening National Biodiversity
Information Facilities

Background BIFA Funded Project Implemented by Biodiversity
Management Bureau (PhilBIF) of DENR
 ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB)as co-implementer of theproject Belgium Biodiversity Platform facilitated the 1st Batch of thetraining Project duration is from June – December 2016

Objectives:facilitate the organization and sharing of available biodiversity datacollected and recorded by various organizations in the Philippines;align the data formats and mobilize data from surveys conducted byvarious academic, research and non-government organization to
support the science-policy needs of the country ;enhance the data publishing capacities of BIOWEB partners and BMB
Informatics personnel.

Project ImplementationTwo(2) batches of capacity building activities participated by 60
Scientists and IT experts from 20 institutions
Training materials, presentations (annex 25) and exercises derived
from the GB22 Nodes Training Event in Madagascar wasretrofitted to suit the Philippine situation and the needs of theparticipants.

Project Implementation


Topics discussed in the training:










benefits of data publishingdata transformation process
mapping different data types
Darwin Core Standard
Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT)publishing various data types to GBIF anddata visualization using GBIF available data

IPT Facility for the training was provided by ACB
Training included hands-on exercises

Project Outputs
BIOWEB partner institutions were endorsed by Phil BIF as GBIF
data publishers:
 Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines LosBanos Mindanao State University (Tawi-Tawi)
 Practical Genomics Laboratory, Technologies for Biodiversity Useand Conservation, Center for Natural Science and Environmental
Research, De La Salle University
 RB Gonzales Museum of Natural HistoryProject Outputs
 Increase in Philippine biodiversity data published in GBIF(expectedto have a continuous rise this year); Expected operationalization of the BMB IPT Facility to be used byBIOWEB partners in publishing data to GBIF;
 Willingness of non-BIOWEB partners in joining which would

expand the GBIF network

 Project Midterm and Final Report submitted and approved by GBIFPhotos (1st Batch)

Mentoring conducted last June 20-24, 2016 (1st Batch)

Photos (2ND Batch)

Mentoring conducted last October 10-14, 2016 (2nd Batch)

Expanding the GBIF
network in the ASEAN
regionMobilizing Biodiversity Datafrom ASEAN Protected Areas(GBIF Grant / Biodiversity Information
Fund for Asia (BIFA) )Orientation Workshop on Mobilizing Biodiversity Data fromASEAN Protected Areas

OBJECTIVES•

to facilitate the organization of species data from ASEAN
Heritage Parks (AHPs) into globally accepted formats•

expose ASEAN Park Managers and staff of on the use ofcamera traps and the processing of information gatheredfrom this method•

orient ASEAN Park Managers and staff on the publicationof species information with the use of species encoding andpublication tools developed by ACB and GBIF

Orientation Workshop on Mobilizing Biodiversity Data fromASEAN Protected Areas

EXPECTED OUTCOMES•

Increased availability of biodiversity information in interoperable databases•Exposure and awareness on the use/function of camera traps as a helpful
tool for acquiring real time biodiversity information and complementtransect information•

Convinced and increased willingness of AHP Managers and/or staff toshare biodiversity information•

Science informed decision making and policy development promoted at thelevel of the AHP and the ability to contribute to national and regional
conservation efforts•

Project Duration: April – July 2016

Orientation workshop on Mobilizing Biodiversity Data
from ASEAN Protected Areas•••••

24 AHPManagers/
Technical Staff
18 AHPs
8 AMS
4 PartnerExperts
7 ACB StaffMalaysia
Brunei Darussalam

Singapore

ThailandIndonesia

MyanmarLao PDR

Philippines

Data encoding, harvesting, processing & mappingCamera Trap Deployment at Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve••

Deployed 12camera traps
Location details:

Latitude: 14.13195
Longitude:
121.219553
Elevation: 439 masl
(SAR DEM)
GPS: 370.24 masl

Processing of data from images collectedData
Publication
through
GBIF’sIntegrated
Publishing
ToolkitFuture Needs Identified
Needs
Capacity Building

Database management
Camera trap orientation
Mapping
Database / Technical Officers
Training for data partners

Funds

To conduct surveys
Procurement of equipment
Internet accessCommitments

Willingness to share data in open sourceNext Steps Identified
 Increase coverage of training to the rest of the AHPs
 Involve other data partners at the National Level
 Museums
 Other departments / ministries
 LGUs NGOs (local and International) Potential Outputs / Products
 Management plan Increase in tourism / park visitors
 GIS data Improve education on Parks / PAs Improve conservation

Capacity building on biodiversity informatics
Training Workshops

2016/09/07-10

Improving the capacity of Asian
researchers and decision-makers toaccess data required for the managementof the region’s biodiversity

2012/06/25-27

2016 GBIF BIFA Biodiversity Informatics Training Wokshop(https://sites.google.com/site/2016bifabic/)

Participants of the 2016 GBIF BIFA
Biodiversity Informatics Training Workshop
Country
BhutanChina
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
MyanmarNumber ofParticipants
1123
72
2

Country
Nepal
Philippines
Singapore
TaiwanNumber ofParticipants
17213

Total41

Regional collaboration
GBIF Asia Regional Nodes Meetings

1. 2009.9 Thailand
2. 2010.11 India
3. 2012.3 Japan (Tokyo)
4. 2012.6 Taiwan (4th Asian Node Manager Meeting in Taipei)
2012-2016 Regional Strategies composed
Regional representative: Sheila Vergara (ACB)
Regional deputy: Nakul Chettri (ICIMOD)
5. 2014.7 Japan (Tsukuba)
Regional representative: Tsuyoshi Hosoya (JBIF)
Regional deputy: Yu-Huang Wang (TaiBIF)
6. 2015.6 Taiwan (6th Asian Node Manager Meeting in Nantou, Taiwan)
Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia projects proposed
7. 2016.6 Philippines (Tagaytay)
2017-2021 Regional Strategies composed
Regional representative: Tsuyoshi Hosoya (JBIF)
Regional deputy: Yu-Huang Wang (TaiBIF)

Regional collaboration• The 8th Asian nodes meeting• will take place in June 2017 in Vietnam• will be expanded from the standard• For expanding regional collaboration and participation, thismeeting will invite:• Selected Asian non-Participant country representatives• External networks – IUCN Asia, AP-BON, ILTER, IPBES Asia/Pacific,ABCD-Net

Thank You- ASIA