GBIF Implementation Plan 2017-2021 andAnnual Work Programme 2017
Overview
This document serves both as the 2017 version of the GBIF Implementation Plan for theperiod 2017-2021 and also as the GBIF Annual Work Programme 2017. Both elements are
based upon the GBIF Strategic Plan for 2017-2021.
The relationship between these documents is represented by the graphic below.
The Strategic Plan (agreed in 2015 at GB22) established five priorities for GBIF’s work.
The Implementation Plan presented here in this document identifies 22 activities that GBIF
must undertake to address these priorities during the five-year period (and a set of specifictasks under each activity).
Each year, GBIF will review progress against these activities and available resources(including Secretariat staff and other uses of core and supplementary funding, as well as
resources committed by GBIF Participants). Using this information, an Annual Work
Programme will be defined for the following year. Each Annual Work Programme will identify
a prioritized set of tasks for work during the year.
The Implementation Plan should be reviewed and refined each year.

The Implementation Plan comprises the body of this document, with 2017 Annual Work
Programme tasks highlighted in green.
Following the Implementation Plan, the Annual Work Programme 2017 is summarized,
starting on page 50.

GBIF Implementation Plan 2017-2021 and Annual WP 2017

GBIF Implementation Plan 2017-2021
The GBIF Strategic Plan 2017-2021 presents five broad overlapping priorities for the GBIF
network. Each of these priorities sets a direction and guides activities for the coming period.
This document here presents an Implementation Plan to enable the GBIF community as awhole to make significant progress in each priority area. It establishes the framework for
GBIF’s Annual Work Programmes over the period of the Strategic Plan.
The following notes provide context for the activities outlined here.

DeliverySome activities in this plan will be led or coordinated by GBIF Secretariat staff, using core or
supplementary funds. Other activities may be led or coordinated by GBIF Participants withparticular interest or expertise in the areas in question.
Combining energies across the whole network within the framework of this plan will enable
GBIF to progress the set of activities identified in this document more rapidly. Each Annual
Work Programme in the period 2017 to 2021 will build on progress in past years and will
focus available resources on remaining priorities identified in this document.

Structure of GBIF
GBIF operates on three primary levels:•••

Global – GBIF is an international activity and works at the global level to increase
standardization and adoption of best practices, to facilitate sharing of expertise andresources and to offer an integrated global dataset and associated informatics
infrastructure.
Participant – GBIF Participants, including the nodes that they establish, haveprimary responsibility for engaging stakeholder communities, mobilizing andcurating data, providing support and training, and ensuring that national researchers
and agencies gain maximum benefit from GBIF. GBIF regional networks provide aframework for national and organizational stakeholders to collaborate more closely,
particularly when addressing challenges and opportunities they share.
Data Publisher – Data-holding institutions, agencies and individual researchers are
the foundations on which GBIF depends. GBIF has a responsibility to ensure thatdata publishers have access to the tools and support that they need and that theyreceive recognition for their work and contributions.

This Implementation Plan seeks to address needs at all three of these levels while aiming toreinforce the value of GBIF for stakeholders at each level.
A particular requirement is for the GBIF network to maintain and coordinate software to
support each of these levels and to ensure that the publication, integration, management
and use of data are as efficient as possible.
At the global level, GBIF focuses on delivery of GBIF.org as a software platform to support
both human users and tools (via web services). Many of GBIF’s goals depend on being able
to deliver a fully integrated view of all data from all sources in the best possible forms.
At the data publisher level, GBIF maintains the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) as its
default tool for sharing GBIF-compatible data. Ongoing enhancements are required toincrease both the usability of this tool and the value that its services provide to data
publishers. At the same time, GBIF seeks to support GBIF-compatible data publishing via
other tools such as collection management systems and citizen science platforms.

Page 2 | 60

At the Participant level, several efforts have been made to deliver generic portal tools to
assist node managers in their work and to deliver value at the national level. The mostsignificant roles for such a platform would be to:•••

Enable national- or regional-level integration and curation of datasets
Enhance data records to reflect national administrative units and national species
lists
Provide tools that meet the requirements of national or regional researchers,
policymakers and the general publicOver the last few years, a growing number of GBIF Participants have collaborated toleverage Australia’s investment in the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and to customize thesetools to deliver their own portals. The Implementation Plan responds to this with a focus on
increasing community development and support to deliver a reusable and sustainable portal
toolkit based on the ALA tools. This approach not only benefits Participants alreadycommitted to using these tools, but also provides a solution for rapid adoption by otherParticipants at national, regional, or even thematic levels. In addition, Belgium has indicatedan interest in exploring the potential for an alternative lightweight solution based on
repository tools such as CKAN.
The vision for the technical aspects underlying this Implementation Plan is that thecomponents developed and offered by the GBIF network at each scale should combine todeliver a robust solution to support GBIF data management and that together they should
continue to evolve to support a leading international data infrastructure. One aspect of thiswill be to ensure that all users can share and reuse common components such as data
validation tests and that GBIF promotes and fosters wider activity around open projects.
GBIF is more than just a technical network, and this Implementation Plan also addresses thecapacity enhancement, networking, communication and reporting activities necessary toadvance GBIF’s work in these areas. Since it is impossible for GBIF to support all aspects of
its network using core funds, this plan focuses on resources which will support the work of
GBIF Participants and data holders everywhere, coordinating the skills, expertise andinvestment of the whole network to maximize benefits to all stakeholders.

Timeline
None of the priorities, or the more specific goals identified for each priority, can be achievedin a single year; each will require coordinated effort across multiple annual work
programmes. This document describes the set of activities currently recognized as important
to deliver the Strategic Plan over the five-year period. It will be revised and expanded as
required each year to address changes in the landscape in which GBIF operates.
This Implementation Plan was presented to the Governing Board for approval at GB23,
accompanied by the Annual Work Programme for 2017 (presented on page 50 following of
this document). Both components were approved at the meeting, subject to the following
additions, which are included in this final version:••

The version submitted to the Governing Board did not yet include some of the 2017
commitments from GBIF participants. These have been added to this version of the
document.
The Governing Board recognized the challenge represented by a continued decline
in GBIF budgets in real terms, and acknowledged that, based on funding committed
at the time, it would not be possible for GBIF to fund all activities normally included in
its annual calendar. However, concern was expressed both at the proposed
exclusion of the Ebbe Nielsen Challenge and Young Researchers Awards and also
at the proposal for a significantly reduced programme of activity around the 2017
Governing Board meeting. Accordingly, the GBIF Secretariat committed to seek

Page 3 | 60

additional sources of funding with the aim of reinstating these components if
possible.
Additional commitments from GBIF Participants or others to contribute or deliver particularelements will be welcomed during 2017 and onwards.

Resources
GBIF has a range of resources for use in delivering its programme of activity, including corefunding from annual Participant contributions, supplementary funds (including BID and BIFA
and funds received for activities within other projects), and investments by GBIF
Participants.
These resources combine as follows:•••

Core Fundingo Supports GBIF Governance structures (Governing Board, committees)o Supports staffing and operation of GBIF Secretariat to coordinate global
activity, including: Delivery of global-level IT infrastructure (GBIF.org)
 Coordination of delivery of software components to support
Participants and Data Publishers
 Coordination of capacity enhancement activity and informationmaterials for Participants, Data Publishers and Users
 Coordination of supplementary-funded activity and Participant
investments in shared GBIF activity
 Monitoring and reporting usage and benefits Administrative support for GBIF activities
 Communication, outreach and partnership activities
o Limited funds to support workshops, capacity enhancement anddevelopments to expand or enhance GBIF
Supplementary Fundingo Additional funds to support workshops, capacity enhancement anddevelopments to expand or enhance GBIFo Funding to support Participants and Data Publishers with content mobilisation
or development of national Biodiversity Information Facilities
Participant Investmentso Operating GBIF nodeso Engaging with and supporting data publishers and users
o Curating data from Data Publishers
o Additional funds or staffing to support workshops, capacity enhancement anddevelopments to expand or enhance GBIF

In past years, Annual Work Programmes have been developed to reflect the use of Core
Funding, but this Implementation Plan is intended to offer a framework for GBIF Participants
and other stakeholders to take leadership in delivering some of the identified activities andtasks. Where possible, Participants are encouraged to seek funds or allocate staff time toenable progress in areas beyond those for which Core Funding is adequate.
All such commitments reported by GBIF participants have been included within the 2017
Annual Work Programme and will be reported as part of GBIF’s work during the year.
Additional Participant commitments will be most welcome at any stage in the implementationof the 2017 Annual Work Programme and for inclusion in subsequent Annual Work
Programmes. Examples of such commitments include (but are not limited to):Page 4 | 60

•
•
•
•
•

Organization of workshops to develop required new standards or best practicerecommendations
Capacity enhancement and training at regional or global levels
Development of tools or software components to advance GBIF’s work
Representation of GBIF in international fora
Recruitment of additional GBIF Participants

Please advise the Secretariat at the earliest possible opportunity of any such proposedcommitments. A form is made available for this purpose.

Implementation Plan structure
The Implementation Plan is structured around the five priorities identified in the GBIF
Strategic Plan 2017-2021. These are presented here in reverse order from their sequence in
the Strategic Plan, and numbered accordingly. This reordering allows the Implementation
Plan to place its initial focus squarely on the global network of GBIF Participants and data
publishers, building on these foundations to address in turn GBIF’s informatics, content
mobilization, curation and delivered products.
For each of the five priorities, the plan presents a series of numbered Activities. These are
the major areas where GBIF needs to develop further in the coming period. A rationale andimplementation approach is presented for each Activity.
Based on the implementation approach, each Activity includes a series of Tasks. These
Tasks are the items that the Annual Work Programmes need to address. They are presented
here as a table, at the end of each section describing the Activity.
Where activity is expected on a Task during 2017, it has been coloured green and includes
information on the allocated resources. All such Tasks are collated in the Annual Work
Programme 2017.
The “Start” column indicates whether each Task will be commenced in 2017, or otherwise
whether it should ideally commence early in the five-year period or may be deferred to the
middle or later in the period.
The “Participant activity” column indicates where GBIF Participants may contribute throughthe ongoing activities of their nodes and/or where particular Participants have declared aninterest in leading or contributing to a Task.

Page 5 | 60

Overview of Priorities and Activities
Priority 1 – Empower Global Network................................................................................ 7
Activity 1a - Focus on people ............................................................................................. 7
Activity 1b - Strengthen skills ............................................................................................. 9
Activity 1c - Equip nodes ................................................................................................. 11
Activity 1d - Equip data publishers ................................................................................... 13
Activity 1e - Expand national participation ....................................................................... 15
Activity 1f - Plan implementation ...................................................................................... 17
Activity 1g - Coordinate resources ................................................................................... 19
Priority 2 – Enhance Biodiversity Information Infrastructure ........................................ 21
Activity 2a - Modernize data standards ............................................................................ 21
Activity 2b - Deliver names infrastructure......................................................................... 23
Activity 2c - Catalogue collections ................................................................................... 26
Priority 3 – Fill Data Gaps ................................................................................................. 28
Activity 3a - Identify priority gaps ..................................................................................... 28
Activity 3b - Expand data streams ................................................................................... 30
Activity 3c - Engage data holders .................................................................................... 32
Activity 3d - Rescue datasets .......................................................................................... 34
Activity 3e - Liaise with journals ....................................................................................... 36
Priority 4 – Improve Data Quality ..................................................................................... 37
Activity 4a - Ensure data persistence ............................................................................... 37
Activity 4b - Assess data quality ...................................................................................... 38
Activity 4c - Enable data curation..................................................................................... 40
Priority 5 – Deliver Relevant Data .................................................................................... 42
Activity 5a - Engage academia ........................................................................................ 42
Activity 5b - Document needs .......................................................................................... 44
Activity 5c - Support biodiversity assessment .................................................................. 46
Activity 5d - Assess impact .............................................................................................. 48

Page 6 | 60

Priority 1 – Empower Global Network“Ensure that governments, researchers and users are equipped and supported to share,
improve and use data through the GBIF network, regardless of geography, language or
institutional affiliation.”

Activity 1a - Focus on people
Rationale

GBIF is the result of work by thousands of people in agencies and institutions worldwide.
This network’s long-term sustainability depends on demonstrating the value of suchcontributions and justifying continued investment of effort.
The GBIF Secretariat can enhance efforts to develop capacity within the network and build
an effective distributed help desk system that acknowledges and showcases relevant skills
and experience that people across the network possess. Users of GBIF data products would
also benefit from showcasing the network’s indispensible human resources and their impact
on assessing and improving biodiversity data.
For these reasons, the next round of improvements to GBIF.org should enhance the
network’s capacity to serve as a hub for the GBIF community by identifying its active
contributors, integrating information on their relevant GBIF activities, and supporting broader
knowledge exchange and skill development.

Approach
The key task is to enhance GBIF.org to connect and display information on its contributors
and other users of the site. This may include contact details (subject to individual control),formal roles (e.g. within participant delegations; in connection to publishing/improving
datasets; based on training experience) and online participation in help desk discussions.
Whether through the use of existing social or commercial platforms or through custom web
application development, GBIF.org should absorb activity currently handled through theseparate GBIF community site. GBIF should also build on experience during 2015-2016 inusing digital badges to identify skills held by individuals. Such community functions will
support the operation of GBIF Task Groups, externally funded projects like BID, andengagement of expert groups to curate GBIF data.

Tasks
Task
numberDescription

Start

Secretariat
staff

1.a.i

Develop mechanisms to supportand reflect the skills, expertiseand experience of individual andorganizational contributions to
the GBIF network (including
revision of identity management
system and integration of
ORCID identifiers)

2017

Participation
0.15 FTE
Informatics
0.6 FTE
Data
Products
0.1 FTE

1.a.iiConsolidate use of digitalbadges to record skills andcontributions

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

Align with / contribute toconsistent criteria forrecognizing skills (possible
workshop, links to national
training programmes)
BELGIUM, SPAIN: plans toalign with national
programmes
Page 7 | 60

See also:
•
•
•
•
•

1b. Strengthen skills - help desk and training activities build on community portal
functions
1c. Equip nodes – GBIF.org should highlight role of node managers and staff
1d. Equip data publishers – proper credit should be given for data publishers
3c. Engage data holders – stronger community support and help desk to support
data publishing4c. Enable data curation – a community structure is required before GBIF can
support engagement with experts as data curators

Page 8 | 60

Activity 1b - Strengthen skills
Rationale

The strengthening of personal skills through international collaboration has been one of thegreat successes of the GBIF global network. During this implementation period, GBIF mustbuild on this past experience (including the support mechanisms developed for the BID
programme) to reinforce efficient training and capacity enhancement across the network.
Central to this is the development of a collaborative help desk capability and the alignment ofrelevant aspects of national training initiatives with a global curriculum to facilitate direct
reuse of resources.

Approach
To strength key skills, GBIF needs to develop and maintain a comprehensive set of clear
reference information and training materials that support all GBIF audiences. During 2016,
the Secretariat has been upgrading documentation to deliver this comprehensive resource,
first via concise explanatory text materials (including numerous translations by network
members into French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian). By the end of
2016, some of these text materials will be supported by short videos that present key
functional and operational aspects of GBIF. The aim is to deliver a structured set of short,
clear, current and complete documents that enable GBIF stakeholders to gain anunderstanding of relevant aspects of GBIF’s work quickly, including formal Participation,
establishing a national or thematic node, planning digitization, mobilizing data, discovering
and using data, citing data, among others. This work complements significant activity among
Participants to produce information and training materials relevant to particular audiences.
GBIF will organize all these materials to form a curriculum that builds and supports the skills
and activities identified in GBIF’s self-assessment tools for nodes and data holders. A core
set of these resources should provide new stakeholders with an effective introduction to
GBIF’s structure, roles, approaches and solutions. Other more technical resources will
provide the additional detail needed by those working in specific areas like digitization, data
publishing and use of GBIF-mediated data. The Secretariat will coordinate ongoing
maintenance and updates to this curriculum with contributions and translations from the
network.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat
staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

1.b.i

Develop collaborative help
desk capability – including
discussion groups, support
materials and FAQs

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE
Informatics
0.1 FTE
Data Products
0.6 FTE
Including offset
of €50K from
BID

€50K BID
for
mentors,etc.

Engage national experts
to provide support toothers through GBIF
collaboration
mechanisms
BELGIUM: Support help
desk activity

1.b.ii

Articulate training andcapacity enhancement
activities around a single,
global curriculum for GBIF

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE

Align training activities to
the GBIF global
curriculum and its
certification mechanisms
FRANCE: organize anddeliver training session
SPAIN: coordinate efforts

Page 9 | 60

around training nodes
staff; operate e-learning
platform
GERMANY: Each year,
4-5 one-day Diversity
Workbench workshops areoffered1.b.iii

Deliver explainer texts andvideos to support selfdirected instruction andlearning

2017

Participation
0.25 FTE

Contribute to review,
adaptation andtranslation of both written
and video explainers
FRANCE: French
explainer texts andvideosSPAIN/COLOMBIA –Spanish video tutorial on
GBIF data publishing

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1a. Focus on people - acknowledgement of skills and contributions in the area of
training and capacity
1c. Equip nodes - capacity enhancement and support directed to nodes teams
1d. Equip data publishers – documentation and help desk must support data
publishing
1e. Expand national participation – improved information materials will assist with
communicating benefits of national participation
3c. Engage data holders – improved information materials will assist withengagement of new data holders
4b. Assess data quality – GBIF data quality approaches must be clear and well
documented
4c. Enable data curation – as GBIF seeks to engage experts to curate data,processes and tools must be clear and well documented
5a. Engage academia – broader engagement with academic bodies, universities
and libraries will require clear standalone information resources

Page 10 | 60

Activity 1c - Equip Participant nodes
Rationale

By coordinating national, regional and thematic networks, Participant nodes play anessential role in helping GBIF engage the broadest possible community of institutions,
initiatives and individuals engaged in biodiversity informatics. GBIF must provide learningmaterials and tools to support nodes efficiently as they work to mobilize biodiversity data,
promote the reuse of available data and support users by improving data management andquality. Preferred approaches enable any one node to invest in developing tools andcapacity that others can easily leverage for the benefit of the whole community. The skills
and experience of the node managers and other team members are recognized as uniquelyvaluable in helping new Participants establish their nodes and allowing the community todevelop together.

Approach
GBIF promotes capacity self-assessment as a tool to help nodes with planning and tracking
progress at all stages in the development of national biodiversity information facilities. The
results of these assessments can also identify important capacity needs to address withlearning materials, tools and collaborative projects. The reuse and adaptation of the Atlas of
Living Australia’s open-source software tools by a growing community of nodes between
2013 and 2016 is an example of successful collaboration based on the mutual needs of thecountries involved. Additional support for this international partnership will allow still morenodes to benefit from the collective resources and expertise to build websites that provide
biodiversity data and services to a range of national and regional user communities. The
nodes’ teams will also engage in collaborative helpdesk activities to enable them to shareknowledge across the scientific and technical domains handled by the nodes.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff Allocatedfunding

Participant activity

1.c.i

Perform ongoingnodes capacity selfassessment

2017

Participation
0.05 FTE

Perform capacity selfassessment to support
planning and monitoringof progress in national
activities

1.c.ii

Build reusable
national/regional
platform tools centred
on ALA software

2017

Informatics
0.25 FTE

Contribute staff time tohelp desk support fornational platform
implementation
Contribute (incoordination with ALAteam) resources fordevelopment or
customization of ALA
tools
AUSTRALIA: at least one
FTE to support
national/regional
development/deployment;
staff time to help support
development activity,
hackathons, etc.
FRANCE: half an FTE toPage 11 | 60

work on national portals(France, Benin…)
SPAIN: assist othernodes with deployment
PORTUGAL: build
reusable national/regional
platform tools, based on
ALA software; ALA
promotion in related
countries
1.c.iii

Develop online
collaboration throughGBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and mentor
node managers

2017

1.c.iv

Explore alternative
options for lightweightnational portal
solutions, e.g. CKAN

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE
Administration
0.3 FTE

Contribute expertise innode management by
participating in the
helpdesk
BELGIUM, FRANCE:
support for helpdesk
BELGIUM: Leadevaluation of options

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•

1a. Focus on people - acknowledgement of roles and contributions of thoseengaged in the nodes’ teams
1b. Strengthen skills - resources to support the learning of members of thenodes’ teams that can also be adapted for reuse within their networks
1e. Expand national participation – better tooling and support for nodes is an
incentive for broadened participation
1f. Plan implementation – implementing this plan requires strong nodes to takeleadership and build national capacity
1g. Coordinate resources - programmes supporting the development offundable collaborative projects and capacity exchange and between the nodes
2c. Catalogue collections – nodes are central to understanding and cataloguing
national collections
3c. Engage data holders – nodes lead in engagement with data holders,
including collections, citizen science groups, consultants, universities,
government agencies, etc.
4c. Enable data curation – data curation mechanisms need to build on nodes
capacity and engage with national bodies
5a. Engage academia – nodes are the primary interface between GBIF andnational academic bodies and universities
5b. Document needs – nodes contribute to understanding data requirements
and best practices and may take leadership in new fitness-for-use investigations
5d. Assess impact – understanding and presenting GBIF’s impact will support
nodes in demonstrating the value of engagement and data publishing

Page 12 | 60

Activity 1d - Equip data publishers
Rationale

Data publishers are an essential component of the GBIF network as they share their content
through the common infrastructure. More than 800 data publishers actively distributedatasets through GBIF.org, and their ranks increase steadily. Publishers from different partsof the world often face unique challenges, though common themes emerge. These problems
range from lack of data publishing experience or skills, lack of equipment, language barriers,
difficulties in managing data hosting facilities, and the inability to publish high-quality data or
curate data into the future. The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) requires ongoing
improvements and enhancements, including the establishment of hosted instances that
reduce the technical burden on data publishers.

Approach
Following the model of the self-assessment tool for node managers, the Secretariat hasdeveloped a self-assessment tool for data publishers as part of the support for the BID
programme, which will guide the work with collection managers and other data holders toassess and prioritize areas for capacity enhancement or investment. The Secretariat alreadyoperates instances of the IPT that data publishers lacking their own infrastructure may use,and Participants are encouraged to deploy instances of the IPT or other GBIF-compatible
data publishing software to support data holding institutions. Planned enhancements to the
IPT will simplify publishing pathways using spreadsheet templates as an alternative for theless advanced data publishers. GBIF will improve reporting to data publishers on both quality
aspects of their data and uses of data documented through download DOI citations.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

1.d.i

Promote and support
capacity selfassessment for dataholders

2017

Participation
0.05 FTE

1.d.ii

Promote publication ofcollection metadata

2017

1.d.iii

Simplify data
publication pathways(spreadsheet-level
publishing)2017

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
Promote and guideself-assessments
BELGIUM: promote
self-assessments
Include collection
metadata as part ofdata mobilization
FRANCE: promote
metadata publication

Data Products
0.05 FTEFRANCE: Frenchlanguage version
NORWAY: explore
collaboration around
IPT enhancements
GERMANY: 0.2 FTE- Diversity Workbench
team is implementing
SQL databases,clients, webinterfaces, services,and workflows andprocedures to deliver
stand-compliant
occurrence data andPage 13 | 60

checklist data for
GBIF
1.d.iv

Manage IPT feature
upgrades2017

FRANCE: update
versions for France,
Madagascar, Togo,
etc.

1.d.v

Operate hosted IPT
infrastructure

2017

FRANCE,PORTUGAL: host
IPT services

1.d.viConsolidate NSG-ledendorsement process

2017

NODES: Efficiency incommunications anddecision making tospeed upendorsement –including a statedendorsement policy
and service levelagreement whereappropriate

1.d.vii

Develop online
collaboration throughGBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and mentor data
publishers

2017

Participation
0.05 FTE
Data Products
0.1 FTE

Volunteer expertisein mentoring andhelpdesk support
BELGIUM, FRANCE,SPAIN: support for
helpdesk

1.d.viii

Provide clear online
reporting of the use ofdata for data
publishers

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTEFRANCE: feedback
at national level

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1a. Focus on people – GBIF.org needs to give credit to data publishers and support
them through the help desk
1b. Strengthen skills – documentation and help desk for data publishing
2a. Modernize data standards – improvements are required to clarify and simplify
key aspects of representing biodiversity data
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – data publishers would benefit from a morerobust and comprehensive taxonomic framework
2c. Catalogue collections – cataloguing collections will highlight opportunities todigitize collections and mobilize their data
3a. Identify priority gaps – identified gaps may support efforts to mobilize data
3b. Expand data streams – GBIF should ensure tools and documentation support
all relevant sources of data
3c. Engage data holders – tools and documentation will assist with convincing dataholders to publish data
3d. Rescue datasets – community assistance is a mechanism to support data
publishing
3e. Liaise with journals – better visibility for data in research publications

Page 14 | 60

•
•
•
•

4a. Ensure data persistence – assistance with long-term management of data
4b. Assess data quality – includes feedback to publishers on potential
improvements
4c. Enable data curation – opportunities for broader involvement in improving data
5d. Assess impact – visibility for the important role of data publishers

Activity 1e - Expand national participation
Rationale

GBIF’s national membership has remained largely static in recent years. Active participationin the network is confined to a limited number of regions, with the most dynamic activity innode collaboration and data publication focused in Western Europe, North America, Latin
America, Oceania, increasingly sub-Saharan Africa and limited parts of Asia. Thus,
significant parts of the world have little or no direct involvement in GBIF’s activities, which
poses a risk to the long-term credibility of GBIF as a global collaborative network. Secretariat
staff and existing Participants constantly engage potential new members through ad hoc
contacts, but the situation calls for a more strategic approach to expand membership.

Approach
The Secretariat will compile and maintain an up-to-date register of the status of GBIF
engagement and relevant contacts in all countries, providing the Governing Board with anannual review that analyses progress and remaining gaps in membership across eachregion. Following the development of a coordinated engagement plan for each region,
Participants and regional groups with strong contacts to relevant agencies in othergovernments may take the lead in engagement. The Secretariat will continue to develop
strategic engagement through the CBD and other intergovernmental networks, as well as
through the BID programme and other capacity-related activities. Adapting the GBIF.org
interface to support key content in multiple languages will seek to address language barriers
to national expansion, with targeted translation carried out both through external contracts
and in-kind services provided by Participants.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

1.e.i

Ensure GBIF.org interface 2017
and key content
supported in relevant
languages

Participation
0.1 FTE
Informatics
0.2 FTE

Support for translation
BELGIUM, FRANCE,PORTUGAL:translation of key
materials

1.e.ii

Improve coordination andmechanisms for engaging
new countries

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE
Administration
0.3 FTE

Responsibility to lead
engagement activities
withneighbouring/related
country governments
FRANCE: activity
under SEP2DPORTUGAL: Leadengagement andimprove coordination
with related countries

1.e.iii

Provide Governing Board
with annual review andMid

Page 15 | 60

progress assessment for
GBIF status andengagement in all
countries
See also:
•
•
•
•
•

1b. Strengthen skills – clearer documentation, tools and basic information will assist
with engaging national stakeholders
1c. Equip nodes – support for establishing nodes will reinforce case for engagement
1f. Plan implementation – all GBIF stakeholders to work together to plan andsupport engagement with additional countries
1g. Coordinate resources – Secretariat to coordinate activity by GBIF Participants
to engage national governments
5a. Engage academia – increased national participation will enable linkages withadditional academic communities• 5d. Assess impact – demonstrating GBIF’s impact will support approaches to new
countries

Page 16 | 60

Activity 1f - Plan implementation
Rationale

Implementing this plan hinges on effective coordination with the plans of individual GBIF
national and organizational Participants. GBIF must also ensure that node activities are wellrecognized and integrated with other biodiversity research and informatics initiatives atnational, regional and organizational levels.

Approach
To make national-scale implementation more central across the GBIF network, theSecretariat will consult with the Governing Board on models for unifying aspects of the workof the Nodes Committee into Governing Board meetings. The Secretariat also seeks funds
to increase the scope of nodes meetings to include work to develop proposals for fundable
activities aligned with this Implementation Plan, particularly by addressing regional priorities.
The GBIF Secretariat will also engage organizational Participants to develop specificmemoranda of cooperation in key areas and to identify and support alignments with thisImplementation Plan and opportunities for joint organization of meetings and workshops.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

1.f.i

Develop better integration
between nodes activities
and Governing Board
processes

Mid

1.f.ii

Expand regional meetings
to serve as GBIF
community Implementation
Planning conferences andopportunities to develop
fundable programmes ofwork2017 Participation
0.5 FTE
Administration
0.2 FTE€60K BID for
Caribbean andPacific regional
meetings

Additional funding to
expand scale andscope of regional
meetings
Opportunity to seek
GBIF capacity
enhancement funds
to seed suchmeetings
JAPAN – BIFA
funding

1.f.iii

Increase alignment
between GBIF work
programmes and activitiesof each GBIF
Organizational Participantand Affiliate

2017 Participation
0.15 FTE
Executive
Secretary
0.1 FTECHINESEACADEMY OFSCIENCE –Funding for oneyear secondment towork at GBIF
Secretariat,
particularly on data
mobilization from
Asia

1.f.iv

Explore increasedalignment and joint
organization of workshopswith other networks suchas TDWG, SPNHC, GEO
BON, RDA, etc.

2017

Proposals for GBIF
conferences (e.g.
on model of GBIC in2012)
USA (USGS) –assist GBIF with

€35K BIFA for
Asian regional
meeting

Page 17 | 60

DataONEparticipation
See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1c. Equip nodes – reinforce mechanisms for nodes planning and implementation
1e. Expand national participation – work together to seek new Participants
1g. Coordinate resources – shared planning supports better alignment of resources
2a. Modernize data standards – aligning plans with other informatics activities
depends on clearer data models
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – requires joint plans with other projects andorganisations
2c. Catalogue collections – requires joint plans with other projects andorganisations
3a. Identify priority gaps – prioritisation is a key stage in planning implementation
3b. Expand data streams – requires broad shared strategy
5b. Document needs – needs should help to determine implementation
5c. Support biodiversity assessment – requires joint plans with other projects andorganisations

Page 18 | 60

Activity 1g - Coordinate resources
Rationale

Among its other roles, the GBIF Secretariat coordinates efforts to expand the scale andscope of GBIF activity beyond the levels achievable using only annual core Participant
contributions. GBIF Participants commit to establish and operate nodes that serve as
significant centres for GBIF activity. Some nodes have sufficient resources to contributeskills and developments that advance GBIF’s work, while others may require external
support to become fully active. A limited amount of funding has been allocated each year
under the GBIF work programme to support capacity enhancement for GBIF nodes. GBIF or
individual Participants may also secure supplementary funds to contribute to particular areasof GBIF work. Improved coordination of these various resources will assist GBIF to advance
more rapidly at all scales.

ApproachThis Implementation Plan itself provides a framework for organizing information on
Participant and supplementary fund resources to complement GBIF’s core funding. The
GBIF Secretariat seeks information from all Participants on planned activities andcommitments which may help to advance the work of other Participants or GBIF globally –examples may include funding for workshops; committed resources to develop tools,
standards or best practices; mentoring actions; etc. These will be recorded as part of theoverall GBIF Work Programme and updates will be presented in the GBIF annual report. A
shared Implementation Plan also offers the opportunity for GBIF (either the Secretariat orParticipants) to develop concept notes to seek supplementary funding to target currently
unfunded or underfunded areas. The annual Capacity Enhancement Support Programmebudget includes only limited funds, but existing supplementary funds (in particular BID andBIFA) align with these funds and leverage CESP tools and processes. Future supplementary
funds should follow a similar model.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

1.g.i

Secretariat tocoordinate participantled activities alignedwith Work Programme(process and models to
support participant
commitments)

2017

Executive
Secretary
0.1 FTE

1.g.iiDevelopment ofconcept
notes/proposals for
supplementary fundingat regional or global
scalesMid

1.g.iii

Operate annual
Capacity Enhancement
Support Programme(CESP) with corefunds, aligned with
supplementary

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE
Administration
1.0 FTE

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
Securesupplementary
funds for GBIF
activities
Secure funding for
extra personnel (anylocation) to work on
GBIF regional orthematic activities€80K corefor CESP call
€1,300K BID
forCaribbean

Identifying or
securing additional
capacityenhancement funds
and aligning with
GBIF CESP

Page 19 | 60

investments

and Pacificcalls andsecondAfrican call
€100K BID
for
Caribbean
and Pacifictraining
events€80K BIFA
for Asianprojects

1.g.iv

Ensure that BID
programme and othersupplementary fundsalign with and reinforce
CESP and GBIF
community, online
resources andinfrastructure

2017

Executive
Secretary
0.1 FTE
Participation
0.5 FTE
Administration
0.5 FTE
Including €60K
from BID and€31K from BIFA
for coordinationand visibility

1.g.v

Align Ebbe Nielsen
Challenge and Young
Researcher Awards
with GBIF priorities

Early

No budget in2017

See also:••••

1c. Equip nodes – nodes are the primary focus for use of nationally aligned GBIF
activity
1e. Expand national participation – coordinate GBIF resources to seek new
country Participants
1f. Plan implementation – plans underpin coordinated activity
5d. Assess impact – understanding impact will assist with future coordination

Page 20 | 60

Priority 2 – Enhance Biodiversity Information Infrastructure“Provide leadership, expertise and tools to support the integration of all biodiversity
information as an interconnected digital knowledgebase.”

Activity 2a - Modernize data standards
Rationale

The GBIF network participants are able to reliably exchange data thanks to their adherence
to a set of standards. As GBIF looks to grow in capability, enable exchange of richer content
and improve the quality of data, the standards must be revised and evolve accordingly.
Current standards adopted by GBIF are not yet adequate to accommodate the needs
expressed by many potential and existing data publishers. Weaknesses in the model have
led to ambiguous or over-complex data representations and unclear documentation, leading
to difficulties in data integration and use. The main issues relate to uncertainties around theuse of Darwin Core record types, the basisOfRecord element, and the use of Core andExtension vocabularies. Reviewing and updating the core domain model, tightening up the
vocabularies and documentation and adopting more robust exchange standards will result inan easier to use, and a wider reaching GBIF data exchange network.

Approach
GBIF will work with TDWG and other key stakeholders to review existing solutions for acommon domain model, working towards agreement on a model to adopt with key partners.
This conceptual model should cover the main components of biodiversity information (thedomain “classes” such as Specimen, Collection, TaxonName, TaxonConcept, Publication,
Sequence) and document the mandatory and recommended properties expected for eachcomponent and the vocabularies that should control the properties. A review of existing
vocabularies and their current uses will be undertaken and revisions and new vocabularies
will be proposed where necessary. A revision of the Darwin Core Archive mechanism andsupporting tools, such as the publishing toolkit (IPT) and the data validator, will be
undertaken to accommodate the richer content model and the new recommendations fromthe W3C CSV on the Web working group. GBIF should continue discussions with other key
global biodiversity data infrastructures to develop comprehensive catalogues to support
discovery and normalization of instances of the most critical domain classes (particularly
TaxonName, TaxonConcept, Collection, Specimen, TaxonOccurrence).
In addition to completing this knowledge graph, GBIF should be equipped to link between
people, datasets, cited use and funding agencies through the correct attribution chains using
e.g. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) as
potential mechanisms.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

2.a.i

Promote development ofa shared domain model
for sharing and linking allcomponents of
biodiversity information

2017

Informatics
0.3 FTE

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
GERMANY: DFGfunded development ofplatform providing
ABCD concepts inmachine-readable form,
with versioned
documentation. This willremove the dependencyof ABCD concepts on
XML schema and willoffer an ontology for the

Page 21 | 60

Semantic Web.
2.a.ii

Lead a review of the
Darwin Core vocabulary
and associatedextensions to ensure
consistency and fullalignment with a shareddomain modelMid

NORWAY, USA (OBIS)– ready to contribute to
DwC review

2.a.iii

Explore opportunities toincrease accessibility of
biodiversity data throughevolution of Darwin Core
Archive formats to W3C
CSV on the Web formats

2017

2.a.iv

Explore models to enable
GBIF and otherbiodiversity
infrastructures to delivercomprehensive global
catalogues of instances ofkey data classes

Mid

Investment in GBIF andkey biodiversity
infrastructures

2.a.v

Improve management oftrait data of relevance to
GBIF

Mid

AUSTRALIA:
Convene/support
workshop to createshared vision for
managing trait data.
Contribute todevelopment work to
support vision.

Informatics
0.3 FTE

Outsourced / cofounded
development
opportunities

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers – improvements to standards can simplify and improve
tools and documentation
1f. Plan implementation – changes will require coordinated activity with TDWG andother partners
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – should reflect broader standards model
2c. Catalogue collections – should reflect broader standards model
3b. Expand data streams – expansion to new categories of occurrence and sample
data should offer clarity around provenance and evidence type
4b. Assess data quality – improvements will simplify and enhance quality
processing
4c. Enable data curation – data curation should build on clear data standards
5c. Support biodiversity assessment – depends on clear standards for underlying
evidence

Page 22 | 60

Activity 2b - Deliver names infrastructure
Rationale

The most significant challenge to improving the quality of aggregated occurrence data is thecontinuing need for a comprehensive checklist of known species, and even for acomprehensive list of published scientific names. Interpreting and mapping names depends
on the quality and completeness of these resources. Even in cases where names inoccurrence records are incorrect or misspelled, better names infrastructure can assist byincreasing confidence that fuzzy match algorithms or human intervention is required.
Delivering these resources is the focus of a number of GBIF Participants and otherstakeholders, including the Catalogue of Life partnership, WoRMS, nomenclators (IPNI,
Index Fungorum, ZooBank) and many national, regional or taxonomic databases. A
comprehensive resource for scientific names and taxon concepts organized at least as aworkable reference classification (but with support for additional classifications as
appropriate) would also benefit other infrastructures, including Encyclopedia of Life,
Biodiversity Heritage Library, Barcode of Life and GBIF nodes, and improve interoperability
between data from these infrastructures. It would also be beneficial to accommodate
vernacular names, informal names for undescribed species and other identifiers such as
Barcode Index Numbers.

Approach
GBIF and many other partners have worked on this challenge and much progress has been
made, but we are still far from a comprehensive shared solution. GBIF has been in
discussion with Catalogue of Life, EOL, BHL, BOLD Systems, nomenclators and others
about pooling resources to deliver the best possible complete nomenclator and catalogue ofall species, along with improved tools to enable the taxonomic community to own andmaintain these resources more effectively. The challenges are not primarily informatics
issues. The most important requirement is to understand the constraints and needs ofexisting content holders and the features that are required from an infrastructure that can beembraced by the majority of taxonomists. The solution must build on existing initiatives andgive sufficient credit and benefit back to those who have invested in developing data. It must
be flexible enough to accommodate existing well-managed datasets without disrupting theiractivity and to accommodate more open mechanisms to support wide community input for
taxa that need more work. In the longer term, it should support evolution towards ownershipof curation responsibilities by international taxonomic societies or other bodies recognized byresearchers for each group. The infrastructure should include processes to review andinterpret unrecognized name strings found by GBIF and others in aggregated data. Oncethese requirements have been resolved, implementation must rapidly follow to offer theseresources as open public datasets for use by all.
The Netherlands has coordinated a significant commitment for 2017 and 2018, led by NLBIF
and including resources both from Species 2000 and Naturalis. This funding will enable
GBIF and partners to direct significant effort to this area over the period.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

2.b.i

Partner with otherbiodiversity informatics
initiatives and taxonomic
database holders to planand deliver acomprehensive
nomenclatural dataset andworking consensus

2017

Executive
Secretary
0.1 FTE
Data Products
0.2 FTE
Informatics
0.2 FTE

80,000 €Host meetings with
content holders andrelevant initiatives
Lead engagement withtaxonomic societies
NETHERLANDS:
Initiate and fund a

Page 23 | 60

classification for all life

dedicateddevelopment team ofstakeholders andexperts
AUSTRALIA:
plan/host workshops;
participate indevelopment
SPECIES 2000: 0.2
FTE
BHL: contribute tocomprehensive
nomenclatural dataset
GERMANY:
Developing andimplementing an
online registration
system for algal
names andnomenclatural types.
Building a taxonomic
index and supplying
checked names for the
GBIF namesbackbone.

2.b.ii

Promote publication of
species checklists through
GBIF network2017

2.b.iii

Explore potential use ofchecklists to assist withdata validation or deriveaugmented data products

Mid

2.b.iv

Explore integration of
Linnaean nomenclature offormally described taxa
with provisional names
and species hypotheses
and OTU naming

Late

FRANCE, SPAIN:
promote checklist
publication

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers – key tool to support data publishers in improving data
1f. Plan implementation – requires joint activity with multiple partners
2a. Modernize data standards – part of broader standards revision
3a. Identify priority gaps – complete taxonomy would assist with evaluatingtaxonomic coverage
3c. Engage data holders – benefits for data holders in linking to consistentframework
4b. Assess data quality – lack of complete checklist a limit on quality processing
4c. Enable data curation – curation of taxonomic framework and taxonomic aspectsof other data
Page 24 | 60

•5a. Engage academia – need to engage effectively with taxonomic societies andnomenclatural codes• 5c. Support biodiversity assessment – taxonomic organisation of data
fundamental

Page 25 | 60

Activity 2c - Catalogue collections
Rationale

Natural history collections are the largest source of data on biodiversity outside nature itself.
Collectively the world’s natural history collections number about 3 billion specimens anddocument over 300 years of active human exploration of biodiversity on earth. In addition thefossil remains provide us with glimpses into the very far past before humans existed. The
collections and their ancillary materials (images, collectors’ notes, sequences,measurements, etc.), contain colossal amounts of data that should be digitized and shared.
Only about 10% of the world’s collections have been digitized and only a portion of digitizedcollections are shared publicly through the Internet. A large number of current GBIF
publishers comprise natural history museums and herbaria. The Secretariat will work with
Participants to deliver the most comprehensive catalogue possible of collections, including
metadata to publicize undigitized collections as a first step towards their digitization andmobilization.

Approach
GBIF will collaborate with existing biodiversity collection registries such as GRBio to develop
a rich collections catalogue to facilitate the discovery and use of the world’s collections.
Collections will be guided and facilitated to publish metadata-only datasets by drawing on
the recommendations of the GBIF task force on accelerating the discovery of bio-collections
data. The generation of a collection catalogue through metadata assessments will help
establish roadmaps for further digitization of the collections.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

2.c.i

Partner with otherbiodiversity informatics
initiatives to deliver a
single, comprehensive
catalogue of the world’s
natural history collections

Mid

2.c.iiUse collection metadata asa first stage in content
mobilization from natural
history collections,
including identification ordevelopment and adoptionof necessary data
standards

2017

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
Collect data forcatalogue

Participation
0.05 FTE
Data Products
0.05 FTE
Informatics
0.1 FTE

Promote publishingmetadata-only
datasets
BELGIUM,
FRANCE,PORTUGAL:
promote metadatapublishing

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•

1c. Equip nodes – nodes contribute to and benefit from data on collections
1d. Equip data publishers – assisting collections in publicising their holdings is aroute towards seeking funding for digitisation
1f. Plan implementation – need to coordinate with GRBio and other catalogues
2a. Modernize data standards – catalogue should build on common data standards
3a. Identify priority gaps – knowledge of collections can assist with identifying
digitisation opportunities
3c. Engage data holders – catalogue can assist with engagement of collections as
publishers
Page 26 | 60

•••5a. Engage academia – catalogue should be an operational tool for researchers
5b. Document needs – fitness-for-use groups may identify priority collections formobilisation
5d. Assess impact – catalogue can measure progress in global digitisation

Page 27 | 60

Priority 3 – Fill Data Gaps
“Prioritize and promote mobilization of new data resources which combine with existing
resources to maximize the coverage, completeness and resolution of GBIF data, particularly
with respect to taxonomy, geography and time.”

Activity 3a - Identify priority gaps
Rationale

GBIF has a range of tools, including fitness-for-use groups, other community consultations,feedback channels, direct communication with authors of scientific studies, and societal
demands, to identify and collect data needs. The Ebbe Nielsen Challenge for 2016 focuses
specifically on tools and algorithms to identify significant gaps. These gaps may relate todifferent facets of the data, including geography, taxonomy, time periods, and coverage ofparticular ecosystems or land units. Addressing these gaps may require focus on gaining
additional occurrence records, targeting data areas missing from published records orgetting additional metadata elements. By consolidating and prioritizing demands for data
content, in the context of already accessible data and knowledge of resources that are not
yet available as open data, GBIF will be positioned to inform collection and data holders,funding institutions and political decision makers of the most worthwhile and cost-effective
ways to extend the available knowledge base.

Approach
The GBIF Secretariat will harmonize and document data mobilization demands from different
sources. Simple tools are required to support needs capture, including informative
documentation and justification for such demands. Automated assessment and reporting of
gaps will be included where this proves possible and valuable. This combined information
can support transparent decision making and target setting for gap-filling efforts, allowing allinterested actors to step in at appropriate levels. GBIF will coordinate with efforts through theIntergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to identify andaddress significant knowledge and data gaps, including outreach and funding strategies for
gap-filling. A thorough, regularly updated overview of data coverage in gbif.org both makes
it easier to identify gaps, and to monitor progress and efficiency of mobilization efforts overtime. GBIF should offer (e.g. annually) a brief report of significant gaps that need to beaddressed. Such a report may be valuable to Participants and funding bodies to stimulate
and evaluate digitization and mobilization options.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

3.a.i

Organize and integrate
requirements identified byfitness-for-use groups

2017

Data Products
0.1 FTE

3.a.iiEstablish open mechanism
for researchers and users
to document specific data
needs

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE

3.a.iii

Develop assessments andvisualizations of strengths
and weaknesses of GBIF
data in key dimensions(taxonomic, geographic,
environmental, temporal)

Mid

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

FRANCE: PhD
thesis on biases,
gradients andvisualization for
terrestrial species

Page 28 | 60

3.a.iv

Maintain well-publicized
GBIF priorities for data
publishing, incorporatingneeds of IPBES and othernetworks

2017

Data Products
0.1 FTE

3.a.v

Provide Governing Board
with annual review andprogress assessment for
digitization of major natural
history collections

2017

Data Products
0.1 FTE
Participation
0.15 FTE

3.a.vi

Provide GBIF Participants
with actionable priorities
and targets for content
mobilization

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE

Promote priorities
with data holders
and funding bodies

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers – priorities can assist with planning or funding digitisation
1f. Plan implementation – implementation should respond to critical gaps
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – taxonomic framework important for identifying
gaps in taxonomic coverage
2c. Catalogue collections – support identification and targeting of undigitizedcollections
3b. Expand data streams – prioritize sources of data to address gaps
3c. Engage data holders – highlight value of targeted mobilisation
3d. Rescue datasets – additional justification for mobilisation
5a. Engage academia – communicate priority needs
5b. Document needs – fitness-for-use priorities should be included
5c. Support biodiversity assessment – addressing gaps will be critical to providing
high-quality data for assessments

Page 29 | 60

Activity 3b - Expand data streams
Rationale

GBIF serves as an integration point for any source of evidence of the recorded occurrence ofspecies in time and space. A primary role for the GBIF infrastructure is to serve as acomprehensive single point of access for discovery, access, use and curation of all such
evidence. Several classes of data are already well-supported within the GBIF network.
These include collections data, observations from field research, and many categories ofcitizen science data. However, there are other new and developing streams of data that
GBIF should accommodate if it is to serve as the platform for supporting comprehensive
data assessment and modelling (e.g. for GEO BON Essential Biodiversity Variables, IPBES
assessments, Red List assessments, etc.). These include efforts to mine historical data
records from literature, genomics activities and particularly barcode-driven surveys, andpotentially species-level data from remote-sensing systems. More work is also still needed toengage with the full spread of research activities delivering sampling event data of various
kinds. GBIF needs to ensure that it provides simple, effective and beneficial ways forresearchers to share these and other streams of Darwin Core compatible data.

Approach
Existing GBIF models include support for occurrence records and for sampling-event
datasets that organize occurrence records as sets of observations deriving from a single
field sample (which make provision for GBIF to accommodate “absence data” from surveys
which did not record a particular species despite searching). These approaches are core to
all potential streams of data to be added. GBIF therefore needs to ensure that existing tools
and documentation are clear and usable for relevant research communities and that GBIF
sufficiently understands existing data management by these communities to avoid proposing
unnecessary additional work. During 2016, GBIF is coordinating a consultation that builds onpast engagements with genomics activities such as the Global Genome Biodiversity
Network. Recommendations from this consultation are expected to guide improvements in
GBIF tools, documentation and communications to support publishing of molecular data informats that can be integrated within GBIF. Several projects are working on automated or
human mining of data records from literature. GBIF needs to learn from these initiatives andensure that its tools support integration in a simple way. GBIF should also seek exemplar
projects for bringing occurrence records from remote sensing into the network.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat
staff

3.b.i

Promote use of sampling
event data model for
ecological and monitoringdatasets

2017

Data Products
0.2 FTE

3.b.iiPartner with BHL andothers to support
integration of species
occurrence records basedon literature

2017

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
Translating, advocacy,training, etc.
BELGIUM: Assistancewith translation ofmaterials
Funding fordevelopment work toenhance mining ofoccurrence records
from historical
publications
Enhancements to BHL
interfaces to support
user annotation with
GBIF-compatible

Page 30 | 60

occurrence records
BHL: collaborate inseeking funds; data
mining for export andrepurposing
3.b.iii

Work with bioinformatics
initiatives and databases toform robust bidirectional
linkages with molecular
data

2017

3.b.iv

Explore opportunities tointegrate species-level
data from remote sensing

Late

GERMANY: 0.5 FTE Engage with natural
history collections not
yet publishing to GBIF.
BGBM hosts the
GGBN portal, which isbased on BioCASe
and Darwin Core
Archive and aims at
making DNA andtissue collections
available based on the
GGBN Data Standard.
Underlying voucher
specimens are
published through
GBIF as well.

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers – support for data publishers is fundamental for thisactivity
1f. Plan implementation – broad GBIF planning and engagement is required towork with all potentially relevant data communities
2a. Modernize data standards – improvements to data standards will ensure thatthe underlying characteristics of the evidence for GBIF data are clear
3a. Identify priority gaps – new data streams may address gaps in existing
coverage
3c. Engage data holders – support and tools are inadequate without engaging
communities to prioritize sharing data
3d. Rescue datasets – mechanisms to liberate historical data will also benefit fromsupport for a broader range of data sources
3e. Liaise with journals – journals are important channels for coordination andpromotion of research data publishing
5a. Engage academia – support from key research bodies and field studies
5b. Document needs – requirements from users may assist with prioritising new
data streams
5c. Support biodiversity assessment – some new streams may have high value
for delivering comparable data for monitoring and assessment

Page 31 | 60

Activity 3c - Engage data holders
Rationale

GBIF has tools and support mechanisms in place to enable publication of several categories
of biodiversity data. The key requirement is for increased engagement with, and support for,the communities of institutions and individuals who hold these data. Such engagement isnormally most effective at the national level, although international networks also have an
important role to play.

Approach
The primary need is for national Participants to engage with the broadest possible spread ofdata holders within their countries, for organizational Participants to share relevant data andfor the whole GBIF network to promote the importance and value of sharing data. The GBIF
Secretariat will focus on enhancement to documentation and tools and on highlighting
priorities for complementing existing data and addressing gaps. Data holders should be
encouraged and assisted in sharing data in the richest form appropriate for the data inquestion (sampling event data where relevant elements are available, occurrence data forother spatially explicit data, checklists otherwise) and with the most open data licencespossible. As well as natural history collections, Participants should identify opportunities tobuild partnerships with citizen science groups and promote the value of open access to datafrom environmental impact assessments and monitoring. GBIF should argue the case foropen data as part of the policy for funding agencies, research councils, industry bodies,licensing authorities, development banks and other stakeholder groups.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat
staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

3.c.i

Engage with natural history
collections not yet
publishing to GBIF

2017

Participation
0.1 FTE

Outreach work withcollections
GERMANY: 0.5
FTE - BioCASE
helpdesk aims toadvertise GBIF andBioCASE andcontinuously
supports newproviders to publish
their data to
BioCASE and GBIF.
Maintenance andupdates of hosted
datasets andprovider software(BioCASe)installation.
Linkage ofadditional datasets
to GBIF if new
suitable datasets
are available.

3.c.iiWork with national citizen
science groups

2017

Participation
0.05 FTE

Outreach to citizen
science
SPAIN,

Page 32 | 60

PORTUGAL: Focus
on this task aspriority data gap
3.c.iii

Promote national policies
and platforms to enablepublishing of environmental
impact and monitoring data

2017

Participation
0.05 FTE

Contribute to policy
development

3.c.iv

Promote importance of data
sharing to funding bodies,licensing authorities andindustry bodies

Mid

Engage with funding
agencies, national
licensing authorities
and private sector

3.c.v

Address the tropical data
gap

2017

FRANCE: Promote
GBIF in global
South and assist
with data
connection in thisarea

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1a. Focus on people – GBIF must give visibility to the efforts of data publishers
1b. Strengthen skills – documentation and support materials must be as clear andsimple as possible
1c. Equip nodes – nodes are the main agent for engaging data publishers
1d. Equip data publishers – GBIF must focus on delivering tools and processes
which are intuitive and effective for data holders to use
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – better names management and integration will
be a benefit for data publishers
2c. Catalogue collections – a collections catalogue will assist with engaging
collections as data publishers
3a. Identify priority gaps – knowledge of key gaps will assist with prioritising focus
on particular data holders and may assist them with securing necessary funds
3b. Expand data streams – GBIF needs to support the widest possible range of
relevant data sources
3d. Rescue datasets – processes to assist data holders to publish data even if they
themselves have limited capacity
3e. Liaise with journals – work with journals to promote and prioritize data
publishing
4a. Ensure data persistence – provide robust and stable support for published data
4c. Enable data curation – offer benefits to data publishers through community
collaboration in improving data

Page 33 | 60

Activity 3d - Rescue datasets
Rationale

Many researchers hold potentially valuable data that are not yet in a suitable digital format
for integration into GBIF. Historical publications are a similar source of valuable data thatremain inaccessible. This offers an opportunity to establish a community platform to capture
information on such datasets where the researcher or owner lacks the time or capability tomake the data available as a GBIF-compatible dataset, and to enable interested individuals
to volunteer time to collaborate with the owner to publish a dataset, potentially in conjunction
with a data paper credited to all parties. Such a model may address a key bottleneck inbringing valuable data online.

Approach
The GBIF Secretariat, or an interested Participant, should develop a test environment to
explore this model. The model should support identification of basic information on datasetsthat may be rescued, including details of ownership, etc. Volunteers may be required toundergo some training or demonstrate some knowledge of GBIF data publishing and thetaxa concerned prior to adopting a dataset for mobilisation. Mobilisation should be include
consultation or partnership with the owner and should deliver quality metadata and a valid
mapping of the original information. Opportunities should be explored for publication of
resulting datasets as data papers as an incentive to all parties.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

3.d.i

Develop tools for reporting
potential data sources for
integration into GBIF

2017

Data Products
0.15 FTE

3.d.iiDevelop support materials(including accreditation)
for collaborative datapreparation and mapping
datasets in GBIF

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE
Participation
0.2 FTE

3.d.iii

Develop site and support
mechanisms for users to
adopt and map datasets

2017

3.d.iv

Review and update
definitions of data
publisher within GBIF to

Mid

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

GERMANY: reBiND is acost-efficient system
and workflow for
rescuing legacy
databases frombiodiversity sciences
which are notintegrated in an
institutional data
curation strategy andare, therefore, at riskof getting lost. BGBM
can contribute theirexperience withmapping threatened
datasets to GBIFcompliant standards.

Page 34 | 60

reflect collaborative data
publishing
3.d.v

Develop partnerships withdata journals to support
data papers for rescued
datasets

Late

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers – a process for data rescue would serve as an additional
tool to support data publishers
3a. Identify priority gaps – priority gaps may motivate sharing and rescue of data
3b. Expand data streams – data rescue processes will benefit from other support
for additional data sources
3c. Engage data holders – data rescue will reduce the work for some data holders
in making their data accessible
3e. Liaise with journals – supplementary materials include datasets which may be
rescued4c. Enable data curation – linkages between data rescue and curation communities
5a. Engage academia – additional mechanism to support work with researchers

Page 35 | 60

Activity 3e - Liaise with journals
Rationale

Journals are the traditional established avenues for scientific communication. They not only
disseminate research findings and other scholarly communications but also increasingly help
to disseminate research data. These data may be provided as supplementary materials ordeposited in biodiversity data repositories as a precondition for publication of the paper.
However, such data publishing data does not necessarily facilitate its integration with otherrelated data or make the data discoverable and reusable. In order to benefit from data
disseminated through journals, the Secretariat will lead or coordinate activity to engage
directly with publishing houses, journal editors and authors to promote GBIF-compatible
approaches to publication and the use of GBIF-operated repositories as accepted or
preferred destinations for supporting data.

Approach
GBIF Secretariat will engage with relevant journals in developing and promoting bestpractices and publishing workflows that reduce the effort required to publish data to GBIF.
The aim will be to publish data once but be able to cite it as supporting data for a journal
paper and where appropriate produce a data paper as an additional product. The Secretariat
will use its experience with Pensoft Publishing where a workflow and a dedicated data-paper
publishing tool is established.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

3.e.i

Develop scalable
approach to support
research journals and data
journals in publishing to
GBIF networkMid

3.e.ii

Produce relevant support
materials to justify benefits
and explain processes topublish primary data

2017

3.e.iii

Integrate support for data
journals into hosted IPT
infrastructures and data
rescue processes

Mid

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

Participation
0.1 FTE

Data hosting andpublication,
helpdesk support;
help identify
datasets in need of
rescueSee also:
•
•
•
•
•

1d. Equip data publishers - hosted IPT infrastructure to support journal datasets
3b. Expand data streams – support for additional data sources will increase value of
GBIF as a data repository for use by journals
3c. Engage data holders – data holders may be motivated by increased visibility inconjunction with published research
3d. Rescue datasets - engage community assistance in mapping research data into GBIF
5a. Engage academia – bidirectional opportunities to build GBIF visibility andinfluence• 5d. Assess impact – increase citation levels for GBIF-hosted data
Page 36 | 60

Priority 4 – Improve Data Quality“Ensure that all data within the GBIF network are of the highest-possible quality andassociated with clear indicators enabling users to assess their origin, relevance andusefulness for any application.”

Activity 4a - Ensure data persistence
Rationale

There exists a significant portion of data available through GBIF.org that is not actively
curated by a data host. In some cases, there are no resources or desire to make further
edits to the datasets. These datasets are effectively orphaned and the GBIF.org version of
the dataset is often the last remaining version available on the Internet. As GBIF develops
mechanisms to provide feedback to data publishers and support curation of datasets, weneed to consider that these orphaned datasets will not be updated with corrections or
migrated to adhere to modern data standards.

Approach
The task is to ensure that all datasets have a primary version available on the Internet thatacts as the source for GBIF.org to index. Orphaned datasets will be identified, extracted
from the GBIF.org index and loaded into the most suitable data repository supporting
versioning: either run by a GBIF participant or a central cloud installation of an IPT. As
issues are identified anyone will be able to volunteer to correct the source data, upload a
new version into the data repository, document the changes applied and follow editor
guidelines. Once republished GBIF.org will reflect the updated data, and the provenance ofchanges will be traceable through the repository versioning system. Policies for editors,
including attribution and the settlement process for disputes will be documented. This entire
activity could be led and implemented by a GBIF Participant.

Tasks
Task number Description

Start

Secretariat
staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

4.a.i

Identify and verify datasets
within GBIF network without
current owners

2017

Data Products
0.3 FTE

Investigations andadoption wherever
possible

4.a.iiPublish reference instancesof these datasets within
hosted IPTs

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTEParallel activity to GBIFS:
export and publish
orphaned datasets

4.a.iii

Develop processes andmechanisms for adoption oforphaned datasets bysuitable agencies or experts

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE

See also:•••

1d. Equip data publishers – ensure sustainable benefits from data publishing3c. Engage data holders – greater security for data holders that data publication
brings long-term benefit
4b. Assess data quality – data persistence is a key aspect of data quality• 4c. Enable data curation – data can only be curated if a stable reference copy
existsPage 37 | 60

Activity 4b - Assess data quality
Rationale

Assessing data quality includes applying data validation tools to capture and monitor
suspected and confirmed errors and ambiguities in data, highlighting useful areas for
additional information (metadata and qualifiers) that would improve usability and enhance
processing options, and documenting completeness and standardization of information bothwithin a dataset and within aggregated data. A number of validation tools exist in the wider
community, and should be brought together to mutually profit from investments and to more
efficiently plan future distributed development efforts. This will benefit data publication
frameworks as well as individual data holders, giving concrete feedback on best gains indata management.

Approach
Consolidation requires an overview of existing data validation tools, their goals andapplication areas, building on existing community work to produce an annotated tools
catalogue (including work by TDWG and the GEO BON “Bon in a Box”). To make best useof development resources, GBIF will support collaboration between networks to bring thosedevelopments together and harmonize efforts, so that further development can more
efficiently concentrate on new priority areas. Consistent tests and reports will both inform
users of the suitability of data for their use, provide feedback to publishers on their holdings,
provide a measure for the overall state of the network, and help to prioritize improvement
options. Ideally, the most common reporting measures and formats are agreed and unified toa degree that allows publishers an easy crosswalk between and integration of data quality
reports supplied by different services and aggregators.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

4.b.i

Develop extensible data
validation tools frameworkin partnership with ALA,TDWG and other networks(e.g. Symbiota, iDigBio,
VertNet)2017

Informatics
0.3 FTE
Data Products
0.05 FTE

Developers ofexisting validation
tools: support
partnering andcollaboration
FRANCE: Training
on data quality
assessment anddata cleaning tools– tools accessible
on GBIF.fr

4.b.iiIntegrate consistent data
validation tools in
GBIF.org, national/regional
portals, IPT and elsewhere

2017

Informatics
0.4 FTE

Nodes / partners
with existing
portals:
collaboration

4.b.iii

Improve presentation andreporting of data validation
results

2017

Data Products
0.15 FTE
Informatics
0.1 FTE

4.b.iv

Develop regular data set
reports for data publishers
and nodes

2017

Data Products
0.1 FTE
Participation
0.2 FTE

Advisory support ofrequired / priority
reporting lines
BELGIUM: Develop

Page 38 | 60

Informatics
0.1 FTE

regular data set
reports for data
publishers andnodes

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1b. Strengthen skills – documentation and training materials must give clear
guidance on quality
1d. Equip data publishers – tools and processes must reinforce focus on quality
2a. Modernize data standards – data provenance and semantics are key to quality
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – gaps in the names infrastructure hinder quality
assessment and improvement
4a. Ensure data persistence – persistence is a key aspect of quality
4c. Enable data curation – curation processes should focus on measurable
improvement to quality
5a. Engage academia – support researchers in publishing high quality data andcollaboration to improve data
5b. Document needs – gather requirements which can improve quality management
at all stages
5d. Assess impact – overall quality metrics for GBIF data

Page 39 | 60

Activity 4c - Enable data curation
Rationale

In a global network, curation of the shared data pool is increasingly becoming a joint
responsibility of aggregators, publishers, experts and data users. The goal is to integratecorrections, improvements, additional information and analysis results in a timely manner,with better visibility to all network participants and data users. Expanding the existingknowledge base requires improved communication channels and workflows for collaboration
between all actors, tools to capture and rapidly display new or improved information,commentary and data, and not least tools, credit systems and support to engage expert
activities.

Approach
The main task is to provide tools and mechanisms that make it easy for users and experts tocontribute knowledge to the available pool of data. Building on existing data filtering anddata improvement workflows in the community, GBIF tools and mechanisms are to support
the identification of relevant data, their cleaning and preparation for specific purposes, andthe sharing of the results of such processes with the wider community. Input collected
through existing feedback mechanisms (e.g. JIRA feedback on gbif.org, AnnoSys, GitHub) is
to be raised to a visibility level that supports and drives the usefulness of the published data.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

4.c.i

Develop network-wide
approach to handlingand processing
annotations andfeedback

2017

Informatics
0.3 FTE
Data Products
0.2 FTE

4.c.iiEnhance IPT to offer
dataset-level peer review
and commentarymechanisms and recordlevel annotations

Mid

4.c.iii

Develop mechanism andtools within GBIF.org forsharing cleaned andannotated datasets
based on GBIF
downloads (“reference
datasets”)

2017

4.c.iv

Develop GBIF data
workbench tool (within
GBIF.org and possibly

Mid

Allocated
funding

Participant activity
GERMANY: DFGfundedinternationalizationand extension of
online annotation
system AnnoSys tofurther data quality inon-line data systems.
NORWAY: explore
opportunities tocontribute to data
annotation tools

Data Products
0.05 FTE
Informatics
0.2 FTE

Page 40 | 60

also as standalone) for
cleaning and filtering
network data (e.g. in red
list assessments)
4.c.v

Develop strategy andsupport mechanisms forexpert communities tocurate sections of GBIF
data

Late

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1a. Focus on people – give credit for contributions to data improvement
1b. Strengthen skills – documentation and training materials to guide data curation
1c. Equip nodes – nodes will be key in engaging expert communities
1d. Equip data publishers – ensure that data curation processes bring benefits topublishers
2a. Modernize data standards – a common data model underpins effective curation
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – normalising names and taxonomy is a key
aspect of curation
3c. Engage data holders – data holders need to be able to respond to curation
actions
3d. Rescue datasets - integration of new but previously uncurated data sources
4a. Ensure data persistence – curation depends on persistent datasets
4b. Assess data quality – understanding issues with data quality can drive futuretools and guidance for curators
5a. Engage academia – collaborate with taxonomic societies and other expert
communities
5b. Document needs – incorporate end user requirements in curation processes

Page 41 | 60

Priority 5 – Deliver Relevant Data
“Ensure that GBIF delivers data in the form and completeness required to meet the highestpriority needs of science and, through science, society.”

Activity 5a - Engage academia
Rationale

The most significant user community for GBIF is academic researchers. Even policy-related
uses of GBIF often derive from the work of such individuals. It is accordingly important for
GBIF to understand the needs of researchers and academic societies and to communicate
clearly regarding the tools and services GBIF can deliver. Communication should include
information and support materials for students and early-career researchers, on bothpublication and use of data, including citation, use tracking and data papers. University
faculties and libraries may be important channels for this information. In addition, GBIF
needs to engage more closely with taxonomic societies and other academic bodies that
could be key collaborators in curating and improving data. Achieving such an outcome
depends on understanding how GBIF can become a more central tool for their work, so thatwork on digital knowledge directly benefits those who contribute.

Approach
GBIF Participants may be well-positioned to lead in engaging with taxonomic societies andother interested research groups, including assuming responsibility to serve as ambassadors
for GBIF within particular communities. Particular focus should be given to opportunities to
explore models for such communities to assist GBIF with data curation. Few university
programs include clear guidance and promotion for open data sharing. GBIF should make use of
its own documentation materials and of curriculum materials from throughout the GBIF
community to engage with biological science faculties and university libraries to share
information on GBIF tools and resources and practices.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

5.a.i

Promote biodiversity
informatics curriculum,
support training of the
users

2017

Participation
0.15 FTE

5.a.iiPublicize GBIF as data
tool via university libraries
and faculties

2017

5.a.iii

Develop online
collaboration throughGBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and support data
users

2017

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

BELGIUM: Translatematerials
Publicize with national
universities
SPAIN: Engage
coordinators of biology
degrees to incorporate
GBIF and GBIF Spain
credit courses into
curriculum
Participation
0.1 FTE

Page 42 | 60

5.a.iv

Represent GBIF at therelevant science fora,
esp. at the frontier
directions such as
ecology and molecularresearch

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE
Participation
0.05 FTE

Representation sharedwith nodes andinstitutions

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1b. Strengthen skills - broader engagement with academic bodies, universities andlibraries will require clear standalone information resources
1c. Equip nodes – nodes are key to engaging national research councils andacademic societies
1e. Expand national participation – engagement with academic societies may
support further national engagement
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – taxonomic societies should be key partners indelivering names infrastructure
2c. Catalogue collections - catalogue should be an operational tool for researchers
3a. Identify priority gaps – communicate priority needs with academia
3b. Expand data streams – work with research communities to incorporate
additional sources of data
3d. Rescue datasets - additional mechanism to support work with researchers
3e. Liaise with journals - bidirectional opportunities to build GBIF visibility andinfluence
4b. Assess data quality – work with research communities to improve data quality
4c. Enable data curation – engage research communities to oversee and improvedata
5b. Document needs – engage relevant academic groups as fitness-for-use working
groups5d. Assess impact – published research is a key measure of GBIF impact

Page 43 | 60

Activity 5b - Document needs
Rationale

GBIF data are aggregated from many sources and are consequently heterogeneous, varying
in fitness for various uses. During 2015-2016, GBIF established three task groups on data
fitness-for-use, in agrobiodiversity research, in distribution modelling and in research oninvasive alien species, to document how these communities use GBIF data and tounderstand their data quality demands. The resulting reports inform data mobilization, dataprocessing and improvements to GBIF.org. During 2017, GBIF will expand this work toincorporate more key areas of use, provisionally focusing on: 1) Phylogenetic and(continuation from 2016 work) DNA evidence for names and occurrences, 2) human healthand vectored diseases and 3) marine biodiversity. Depending on resources, these groups
will operate through a combination of face-to-face meetings and online or remotecollaboration.

Approach
In 2017, the DNA work will continue from 2016 through online meetings and e-mails. Human
health and vectored disease fitness for use group will be formed and will operate using thebasic model with two in-person meetings. Work on fitness for use in marine research willcontinue / start depending on the availability of marine data from OBIS by the end of in 2016.
Participants are encouraged to organize working groups in additional areas to review thestate of GBIF data relevant to particular domains and themes and to provide
recommendations on critical gaps, improvements in recommended metadata or data
elements, minimum criteria for usable data, etc. The GBIF Secretariat will compile theserecommendations and, where possible, develop query profiles to support rapid access andmonitor progress by the network in delivering data suited for the needs of these domains.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

5.b.i

Prioritize areas forfitness-for-use
assessments

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE

Contracted literaturemining study to workout key sectors ofscience making use ofGBIF

5.b.ii

Support fitness-for-use
groups2017

Data Products
0.15 FTE

Fund/coordinate afitness-for-use groupand report, through“adopt a topic”
schema, with thesupport from GBIF S

See also:
•
•
•
•
•
•

1c. Equip nodes – nodes may coordinate requirements gathering in particular areas
1f. Plan implementation – GBIF plans should respond directly to needs
2c. Catalogue collections – comprehensive knowledge of collections will serve as abasis for identifying collections particularly important for digitisation
3a. Identify priority gaps – needs feed into assessing gaps in data
3b. Expand data streams – additional data sources may address needs
3c. Engage data holders – work with data holders to improve quality and address
gaps

Page 44 | 60

•
•
•
•

4b. Assess data quality – needs may determine quality checks which can be
performed and metrics to report
4c. Enable data curation – assistance with setting curation priorities
5a. Engage academia – work with research communities to define needs
5c. Support biodiversity assessment – requirements for assessment are a key
aspect of needs

Page 45 | 60

Activity 5c - Support biodiversity assessment
Rationale

One of GBIF’s key roles is as organizer or global evidence for species distribution, based on
point records for species in time and space. Expansion of data publishing to accommodate
sampling event data enables this evidence base also to mobilize and organize basic data on
species populations and abundance. As a result, GBIF is positioned to serve as a criticalresource for supporting biodiversity assessment at all scales. In particular, GBIF should
serve as the data foundation for GEO BON to deliver Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)
for species distribution and population abundance. These EBVs represent a continuum frommodelled representation of species occupancy (presence-only) in defined units of space andtime through to richer assessment of species abundance in those units. GEO BON should
serve as a forum for addressing the challenges of modelling such variables and interpolating
sensibly between existing data points. This includes determination of appropriate scale atwhich modelled variables are adequately supported by current data. GBIF needs to ensurethat it delivers the data foundations required for these activities, thereby supporting therequirements of IPBES, species Red Listing through IUCN and national authorities, the CBD
and the Aichi Targets and Sustainable Development Goals.

ApproachThis activity depends on the activities defined for all goals, in order to improve thecomprehensiveness, coverage and quality of data accessed through the GBIF network. An
additional area for enhancement will be GBIF.org search interfaces and presentation (viamaps and other visualizations) of sampling event data. Such interfaces should ensure that
researchers can properly evaluate and assess data suitable for biodiversity assessment
activities. Additionally GBIF needs to be active within GEO BON to ensure that there is closealignment and evolution between the concepts and implementation of EBVs and the dataand services offered by GBIF.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

5.c.i

Enhance GBIF.org
presentation of sampling
event data

2017

Informatics
0.2 FTE

5.c.ii

Support development ofspecies
distribution/population
abundance EBVs

2017

Data Products
0.05 FTE
Executive
Secretary
0.1 FTE
Informatics
0.1 FTE

5.c.iii

Showcase tools andpractices for use of GBIF in
Red Listing and otherspecies assessment
processes

Mid

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

See also:•

1e. Expand national participation – assessment is a need and motivation for
national agencies

Page 46 | 60

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1f. Plan implementation – delivering high quality global and regional datasets insupport of assessment will require coordinated action
2a. Modernize data standards – improve information on data provenance andsemantics
2b. Deliver names infrastructure – names are key to organising data from multiple
sources3a. Identify priority gaps – assessment needs will contribute to prioritisation
3b. Expand data streams – ensure that all relevant data sources are included
5b. Document needs – requirements for assessment are a key aspect of needs
5d. Assess impact – many governments, along with intergovernmental
collaborations, expect GBIF to deliver solutions in support of assessment activities

Page 47 | 60

Activity 5d - Assess impact
Rationale

GBIF Participants require clear evidence of the benefits arising from investments in nationalscale content mobilization and from GBIF global activity. At present, the main source ofevidence presented derives from monitoring of published literature to identify uses of GBIF
within research. This activity has been reported through annual GBIF Science Reviews andclearly demonstrates growing use of GBIF in research. Monitoring the literature in this way istime-consuming, and becomes more so as the relevant literature increases. A sustainableapproach is required for future monitoring of this kind. GBIF now issues and promotes
Digital Object Identifiers for data downloads and expects that these can be used both tosimplify discovery and to improve the detail offered to Participants and data publishers onsome uses of data. Participants also require more information on non-research uses of GBIF
infrastructure, particularly in various kinds of government or industry assessments. A
broader review of costs and benefits arising from GBIF investment would be valuable forParticipants arguing continued engagement within GBIF and other countries considering
Participation.

Approach
The GBIF Secretariat will lead a consultation with Participants on the level of detail desiredfrom literature tracking and possible approaches to maintain this as a shared task across the
network. GBIF.org will be enhanced to present known uses of GBIF DOIs and to ensure thatdata publishers receive information on such uses. Within the BID programme, GBIF is
already seeking reports from funded projects on non-research applications of data. A
general model is required to enable Participants easily to contribute examples of such usesand for these to be integrated into GBIF’s overall reporting on usage. Several countries haverequested information on known costs and benefits from GBIF investment. The Secretariat
wishes to identify one or more Participants interested in leading case study investigations tovalue GBIF benefits at national scale and to assist with developing generalrecommendations for a suitable way for GBIF to track and report this value.

Tasks
Task number

Description

Start

Secretariat staff

5.d.i

Develop sustainableapproach to literature
tracking

2017

Participation 0.2
FTE
Administration
0.2 FTE

5.d.iiAutomate detection andreporting of use of GBIF
DOIs

2017

Informatics 0.05
FTE

5.d.iii

Provide mechanisms toreport and track uses ofdata and grey literature

2017

Participation 0.05
FTE
Informatics 0.05
FTE

5.d.iv

Develop a valuation forthe services delivered by
the GBIF network

Mid

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

Report uses of
GBIF data

Workshop or
consultancy todevelop a valuation
model for GBIF

Page 48 | 60

See also:
•

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1c. Equip nodes – information on impacts will assist nodes in building strong
national networks and nodes will be the key source of information on uses of data
outside peer-reviewed literature
1d. Equip data publishers – data publishers need information on the benefits
arising from use of their data
1e. Expand national participation – information on impacts will increase the casefor GBIF participation
1g. Coordinate resources - understanding impact will assist with future coordination
2c. Catalogue collections – catalogue will serve as benchmark for progress indigitising collections
3e. Liaise with journals – use of GBIF data in published research a key measure of
impact4b. Assess data quality – improvements in quality should be a metric for impact
5a. Engage academia - published research is a key measure of GBIF impact
5c. Support biodiversity assessment - many governments, along withintergovernmental collaborations, expect GBIF to deliver solutions in support ofassessment activities

Page 49 | 60

GBIF Annual Work Programme 2017
Financial situation
The current expectation is that income from Participant contributions will be reduced in 2017.
As a consequence, there is a need to make savings compared to recent years to ensure thatthe end-of-year financial situation is reasonable.
Staff changes in recent years have enabled the Secretariat to maintain a steady level ofservice with lower salary costs than in the past. The Secretariat is now structured as four
teams, as follows:
•

•

•

•

Participation and Engagement (six staff)
o Direct support and guidance for GBIF participants and Nodeso Capacity enhancement activities
o Documentation and communication
Data Products (four staff)o Technical support and helpdesk for data publishers and userso Data quality and fitness-for-use
Informatics (six staff)
o Software developmento Operation of GBIF IT infrastructureo Standards
Administration (six staff)
o Support for Governing Board and Committee activities
o Administration of calls for proposals and contract processeso Organisation of meetings and travelo Financial management

In comparison with past years, the Administration team is greatly strengthened and provides
dedicated support for many activities that formerly occupied the time of Programme Officers.
As a result, the Participation and Engagement team is better positioned to provide morestrategic support for the community.
Staff levels will be kept at the current levels in 2017, with recruitment of one Programme
Officer to maintain capacity during staff turnover. Unless the budget situation changes, noother recruitment is included in the plans. It should be noted however that Secretariat staff
are experiencing heavy workloads and current staff levels limit progress in a number ofcritical areas, particularly around addressing the wide range of functional and service needs
identified by users and data publishers, and around increasing the effectiveness of GBIF’s
relationships with other international initiatives.
To avoid irresponsible depletion of funds during 2017, several cuts are required in otherareas of GBIF operation. The proposal for 2017 is to make savings for a single year as
follows:
1. Organise a reduced GB24 Governing Board meeting in Copenhagen for Voting
Participant business only
2. No Global Nodes Meeting (normally alongside Governing Board meetings inalternate years)
3. Defer Ebbe Nielsen Challenge and Young Researchers’ Awards for one year
These savings correspond to a reduction in expenditure of around €130K.

Page 50 | 60

It has been recognized that the interactions between the Nodes Steering Group and theScience Committee have been limited in recent years. As a consequence a joint meeting ofthese two committees is planned for February 2017 to review all aspects of GBIF’s work andto provide recommendations to feed into the Executive Committee meeting in March/April
2017.
The Global Nodes Meeting is an important opportunity for node managers to collaborate andbenefit from capacity enhancement activities. The Secretariat proposed to mitigate this loss
in the following ways:
•

•

•

•

The Secretariat plans to organise a series of webinars, each accompanied by online
discussion groups, approximately every other month, to update node managers andother representatives of GBIF Participants on developments within the GBIF networkand to provide training on key aspects of GBIF’s operation. These webinars willcommence at the start of 2017. Participants are encouraged to makerecommendations on topics of particular interest.
Funding from Japan under the BIFA programme and from the EU under the BID
programme will support meetings and capacity enhancement activity in Asia, Africa,
the Caribbean and the Pacific.
A larger figure than in recent years, €80K will be allocated for the 2017 GBIF
Capacity Enhancement call. Proposals will be welcome under this call for partial
funding for regional meetings.
In response to the opportunity offered by the BID programme, the GBIF Secretariat
is reinforcing the helpdesk capability offered to the whole network.

In addition to the allocation of €80K for the Capacity Enhancement call, a further €80K is
allocated for work during 2017 to build on efforts in 2016 to forge a coalition with theCatalogue of Life and other nomenclatural and taxonomic content networks jointly to deliver
the best possible community-managed catalogue of all scientific names and checklist of all
species. The taxonomic framework for GBIF data remains the single biggest weakness inthe overall quality of data delivered through the network. Recent developments give GBIF
the opportunity to work with key partners to address this deficit and to deliver a criticalknowledge resource to underpin all biodiversity informatics. The funds are reserved fordevelopment activity in support of this joint initiative. Participants with an interest indelivering a comprehensive global nomenclator and species checklist are encouraged tomake additional commitments under Implementation Plan activity 2.b – Deliver Names
Infrastructure.
As proposed by the Netherlands at GB22, the Secretariat has sought to develop the 2017
Annual Work as a framework for contributions from Participants to joint delivery of GBIF’s
goals. We are grateful to Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, USA, BHL and the Chinese Academy of Science for their responses to thiscall. Specific responses have been detailed in the text of the Implementation Plan. It should
be noted that these Participants and others will be active during 2017 in many of the tasks
where Participant activity has been listed without identifying particular Participants. The
Secretariat will seek to communicate outcomes from these efforts and to ensure that these
Participants are supported in maximizing the benefit of their contributions to GBIF as awhole. All Participants are encouraged to communicate with the Secretariat on ways inwhich they wish also to contribute to the activities identified in the Implementation Plan, orotherwise to advance GBIF’s work.
The budget proposal for 2017 may be summarized as follows (see GBIF Draft 2017 Budget
for more detail):
Opening balance€595K
Page 51 | 60

Participant contributions€2,635K

Secretariat supplementary income€145K

Total available funds€3,375K

Secretariat salaries€2,319K

Governance costs€73K

Operating costs€467K

Work programme expenditure€160K

Total expenditure€3,018K

Closing balance€357K

Summary of planned 2017 tasks
The following table brings together the tasks planned for initiation during 2017, andsummarizes effort from Secretariat staff, dedicated expenditure of core and supplementary
funds, and committed Participant activities.
Task
numberDescription

Secretariat staff

1.a.i

Develop mechanisms to
support and reflect the skills,
expertise and experience ofindividual and organizational
contributions to the GBIF
network

Participation 0.15 FTEInformatics 0.6 FTE
Data Products 0.1 FTE

1.a.iiConsolidate use of digitalbadges to record skills andcontributions

Participation 0.1 FTE

1.b.i

Develop collaborative help
desk capability – including
discussion groups, support
materials and FAQs

Participation 0.1 FTE
Informatics 0.1 FTE
Data Products 0.6 FTE

Allocated
funding

Participant activity

BELGIUM, SPAIN€50K BID for
mentors, etc.

BELGIUM

Including offset of €50K
from BID
1.b.ii

Articulate training and capacity
enhancement activities arounda single, global curriculum for
GBIF

Participation 0.1 FTEFRANCE, SPAIN,GERMANY

1.b.iii

Deliver explainer texts andvideos to support self-directed
instruction and learning

Participation 0.25 FTEFRANCE,SPAIN/COLOMBIA

1.c.i

Perform ongoing nodes
capacity self-assessment

Participation 0.05 FTE

1.c.ii

Build reusable national/regional

Informatics 0.25 FTE

AUSTRALIA,

Page 52 | 60

platform tools centred on ALA
software

FRANCE,PORTUGAL,
SPAIN

1.c.iii

Develop online collaboration
through GBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and mentor nodemanagers

Participation 0.1 FTEBELGIUM,
FRANCE

1.c.iv

Explore alternative options forlightweight national portal
solutions, e.g. CKAN

1.d.i

Promote and support capacity
self-assessment for dataholders

1.d.ii

Promote publication ofcollection metadata

1.d.iii

Simplify data publication
pathways (spreadsheet-level
publishing)

1.d.iv

Manage IPT feature upgrades

FRANCE

1.d.v

Operate hosted IPT
infrastructure

FRANCE,PORTUGAL

1.d.viConsolidate NSG-ledendorsement process

NODES

1.d.vii

Develop online collaboration
through GBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and mentor data
publishers

Participation 0.05 FTE
Data Products 0.1 FTEBELGIUM,
FRANCE, SPAIN

1.d.viii

Provide clear online reportingof the use of data for data
publishers

Data Products 0.05 FTEFRANCE

1.e.i

Ensure GBIF.org interface andkey content supported in
relevant languages

Participation 0.1 FTE
Informatics 0.2 FTEBELGIUM,
FRANCE,PORTUGAL

1.e.ii

Improve coordination andmechanisms for engaging new
countries

Participation 0.1 FTEFRANCE,PORTUGAL

1.f.ii

Expand regional meetings toserve as GBIF community
Implementation Planning
conferences and opportunities
to develop fundable
programmes of work

Participation 0.5 FTEBELGIUM

Participation 0.05 FTEBELGIUM

FRANCE
Data Products 0.05 FTEFRANCE,NORWAY,GERMANY€60K BID for
Caribbean
and Pacificregional
meetings

JAPAN€35K BIFA for
Asian
regional
meeting
1.f.iii

Increase alignment between

Participation 0.15 FTECHINESE

Page 53 | 60

GBIF work programmes andactivities of each GBIF
Organizational Participant andAffiliate

Executive Secretary
0.1 FTE

1.f.iv

Explore increased alignment
and joint organization ofworkshops with other networks
such as TDWG, SPNHC, GEO
BON, RDA, etc.

1.g.i

Secretariat to coordinate
participant-led activities alignedwith Work Programme (process
and models to support
participant commitments)

Executive Secretary
0.1 FTE

1.g.iii

Operate annual Capacity
Enhancement Support
Programme (CESP) with corefunds, aligned with
supplementary investments

Participation 0.1 FTE

ACADEMY OFSCIENCEUSA (USGS)€80K core for
CESP call€1,300K BID
for Caribbean
and Pacificcalls andsecondAfrican call
€100K BID for
Caribbean
and Pacifictraining
events€80K BIFA for
Asian projects

1.g.iv

Ensure that BID programmeand other supplementary fundsalign with and reinforce CESP
and GBIF community, online
resources and infrastructure

Executive Secretary
0.1 FTE
Participation 0.5 FTE

2.a.i

Promote development of ashared domain model forsharing and linking allcomponents of biodiversity
information

Informatics 0.3 FTE

2.a.iii

Explore opportunities toincrease accessibility of
biodiversity data throughInformatics 0.3 FTE

Including €60K from BID
and €31K from BIFA for
coordination andvisibility
GERMANY

Page 54 | 60

evolution of Darwin Core
Archive formats to W3C CSV
on the Web formats
2.a.v

Improve management of trait
data of relevance to GBIFAUSTRALIA

2.b.i

Partner with other biodiversity
informatics initiatives andtaxonomic database holders toplan and deliver acomprehensive nomenclatural
dataset and working consensus
classification for all life

2.b.ii

Promote publication of species
checklists through GBIF
network

2.c.iiUse collection metadata as afirst stage in content
mobilization from natural
history collections, including
identification or development
and adoption of necessary data
standards

Participation 0.05 FTE
Data Products 0.05 FTEInformatics 0.1 FTE

3.a.i

Organize and integrate
requirements identified byfitness-for-use groups

Data Products 0.1 FTE

3.a.iiEstablish open mechanism forresearchers and users to
document specific data needs

Data Products 0.05 FTE

3.a.iv

Maintain well-publicized GBIF
priorities for data publishing,incorporating needs of IPBES
and other networks

Data Products 0.1 FTE

3.a.v

Provide Governing Board withannual review and progressassessment for digitization ofmajor natural history collections

Data Products 0.1 FTEParticipation 0.15 FTE

3.a.vi

Provide GBIF Participants withactionable priorities and targets
for content mobilization

Data Products 0.05 FTE

3.b.i

Promote use of sampling event
data model for ecological andmonitoring datasets

Data Products 0.2 FTE

3.b.iiPartner with BHL and others to
support integration of species
occurrence records based onliterature

BHL

3.b.iii

Work with bioinformatics
initiatives and databases to

GERMANY

Executive Secretary
0.1 FTE
Data Products 0.2 FTE
Informatics 0.2 FTE

80,000 €AUSTRALIA,GERMANY,NETHERLANDS,
BHL, SPECIES2000

FRANCE, SPAINBELGIUM,
FRANCE,PORTUGALBELGIUM

Page 55 | 60

form robust bidirectional
linkages with molecular data
3.c.i

Engage with natural history
collections not yet publishing to
GBIFParticipation 0.1 FTEGERMANY

3.c.iiWork with national citizen
science groups

Participation 0.05 FTEPORTUGAL,
SPAIN

3.c.iii

Promote national policies andplatforms to enable publishingof environmental impact andmonitoring data

Participation 0.05 FTE

3.c.v

Address the tropical data gap

3.d.i

Develop tools for reporting
potential data sources for
integration into GBIF

Data Products 0.15 FTE

3.d.iiDevelop support materials(including accreditation) for
collaborative data preparationand mapping datasets in GBIF

Data Products 0.05 FTE
Participation 0.2 FTE

3.d.iii

Develop site and support
mechanisms for users to adopt
and map datasets

3.e.ii

Produce relevant support
materials to justify benefits andexplain processes to publish
primary data

Participation 0.1 FTE

4.a.i

Identify and verify datasets
within GBIF network without
current owners

Data Products 0.3 FTE

4.a.iiPublish reference instances ofthese datasets within hosted
IPTs

Data Products 0.05 FTE

4.a.iii

Develop processes andmechanisms for adoption oforphaned datasets by suitableagencies or experts

Data Products 0.05 FTE

4.b.i

Develop extensible data
validation tools framework in
partnership with ALA, TDWG
and other networks (e.g.
Symbiota, iDigBio, VertNet)

Informatics 0.3 FTE
Data Products 0.05 FTEFRANCE

4.b.iiIntegrate consistent data
validation tools in GBIF.org,
national/regional portals, IPT
and elsewhere

Informatics 0.4 FTE

Nodes / partners
with existing
portals

4.b.iii

Improve presentation andreporting of data validation

Data Products 0.15 FTEInformatics 0.1 FTEFRANCEGERMANY

Page 56 | 60

results
4.b.iv

Develop regular data set
reports for data publishers andnodes

Data Products 0.1 FTEParticipation 0.2 FTE
Informatics 0.1 FTEBELGIUM

4.c.i

Develop network-wide
approach to handling andprocessing annotations andfeedback

Informatics 0.3 FTE
Data Products 0.2 FTEGERMANY,NORWAY

4.c.iii

Develop mechanism and tools
within GBIF.org for sharing
cleaned and annotateddatasets based on GBIF
downloads (“reference
datasets”)

Data Products 0.05 FTEInformatics 0.2 FTE

5.a.i

Promote biodiversity
informatics curriculum, support
training of the users

Participation 0.15 FTE

5.a.iiPublicize GBIF as data tool via
university libraries and faculties

5.a.iii

Develop online collaboration
through GBIF.org helpdesk to
assist and support data users

Participation 0.1 FTE

5.a.iv

Represent GBIF at the relevantscience fora, esp. at the frontier
directions such as ecology andmolecular research

Data Products 0.05 FTE
Participation 0.05 FTE

5.b.i

Prioritize areas for fitness-foruse assessments

Data Products 0.05 FTE

5.b.ii

Support fitness-for-use groups

Data Products 0.15 FTE

5.c.i

Enhance GBIF.org presentationof sampling event data

Informatics 0.2 FTE

5.c.ii

Support development ofspecies distribution/population
abundance EBVs

Data Products 0.05 FTE
Executive Secretary
0.1 FTE
Informatics 0.1 FTE

5.d.i

Develop sustainable approach
to literature tracking

Participation 0.2 FTE
Administration 0.2 FTE

5.d.iiAutomate detection andreporting of use of GBIF DOIs

Informatics 0.05 FTE

5.d.iii

Provide mechanisms to report
and track uses of data and grey
literatureParticipation 0.05 FTEInformatics 0.05 FTEBELGIUM, SPAIN

Page 57 | 60

Overview of Secretariat staff allocation
The following table summarizes planned allocation of GBIF Secretariat staff time. The
columns indicate level of effort expressed as a fraction of a year’s work for a single staff
member (although the work may be shared between several individuals).
It is recognized that the Secretariat needs to respond to unplanned needs and opportunities
during the year, and to support internal tracking and planning. In this overview, an allocationof around 25% of the time for most staff members has been left unallocated to reflect theseneeds. A smaller proportion of the work of the Administration Team is reported since theiractivity is required in support of most aspects of the Secretariat’s work.
Each of the six right-hand columns represents a different Secretariat team, as follows:
•
•
•
•
•

Participation – Deputy Director, three Programme Officers, Communications
Manager, Science Communications Coordinator – total 6.0 staff
Data Products – Head of Data Products, Scientific Officer, IPT Product Manager,
Data Manager – total 4.0 staff
Informatics – Head of Informatics, Lead Software Developer, two Software
Developers, two Web Developers – total 6.0 staff
Administration – Head of Administration, HR Manager, Financial Controller, three
Administrative Assistants – total 6.0 staff
Executive Secretary – Executive Secretary – total 1.0 staff

Task
numberParticipation

Data
Products

Informatics

1.a.i

0.15

0.1

0.6

1.a.ii

0.1

1.b.i

0.1

1.b.ii0.1

0.1

1.b.iii

0.25

0.25

1.c.i

0.05

0.05

Executive
Secretary

0.85

0.6

0.8

0.1

0.25

0.25

1.c.iii

0.1

1.d.i

0.05

1.d.iii
0.05

1.d.viii

TOTAL

0.1

1.c.ii1.d.vii

Administration

0.4

0.3

0.05
0.05

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.05

0.05
0.3

1.e.i

0.1

0.2

1.e.ii

0.1

0.3

0.4

1.f.ii

0.5

0.2

0.7

1.f.iii

0.15

1.g.i
1.g.iii

0.1

1.0

1.g.iv

0.5

0.5

0.1

0.25

0.1

0.1
1.1

0.1

1.1

Page 58 | 60

2.a.i0.3

0.3

2.a.iii

0.3

0.3

2.b.i
2.c.ii

0.05

0.2

0.2

0.05

0.1

0.1

0.5
0.2

3.a.i

0.1

0.1

3.a.ii

0.05

0.05

3.a.iv

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.25

3.a.vi

0.05

0.05

3.b.i

0.2

0.2

3.a.v

0.15

3.c.i

0.1

0.1

3.c.ii

0.05

0.05

3.c.iii

0.05

0.05

3.d.i
3.d.ii

0.2

3.e.ii

0.1

0.15

0.15

0.05

0.25
0.1

4.a.i

0.3

0.3

4.a.ii

0.05

0.05

4.a.iii

0.05

0.05

4.b.i

0.05

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.4

0.15

0.1

0.25

0.1

0.1

0.4

4.c.i

0.2

0.3

0.5

4.c.iii

0.05

0.2

0.25

4.b.ii
4.b.iii
4.b.iv

0.2

5.a.i

0.15

0.15

5.a.iii

0.1

0.1

5.a.iv

0.05

0.05

0.1

5.b.i

0.05

0.05

5.b.ii

0.15

0.15

5.c.i
5.c.ii
5.d.i

0.2

0.2
0.05

0.1

0.2
0.05

TOTAL

3.85

3.2

0.25
0.4

0.2

5.d.ii
5.d.iii

0.1

0.05

0.05

0.05

0.1

3.85

2.5

0.5

13.9

Page 59 | 60

Page 60 | 60