Copyright 2011 © Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Project Leader:		
Layout & design:		
Printing:			Anne Mette Nielsen (anmnielsen@gbif.org)
Ciprian Marius Vizitiu (cvizitiu@gbif.org)
Kailow Graphics

All photos used with permission
March 2011
ISBN: 87-92020-18-6

GBIF Strategic Plan
2012–2016

Contents
Foreword����������������������������������������������������� 1
Executive Summary����������������������������������������������� 2
Introduction��������������������������������������������������� 3
Strategic Imperatives for 2012-2016�������������������������������������� 4
1. Advance the Digital Content �������������������������������������� 4
1.1. Quantity: Fill the data gaps
1.2. Quality: Enhance fitness-for-use
1.3. Scope: Accommodate data futures
1.4. Use: Measure data impact
2. Advance the Informatics Infrastructure�������������������������������� 5
2.1. Expand the distributed infrastructure
2.2. Improve standards and interoperability
2.3. Foster community-developed standards, tools and services
3. Advance the Engagement���������������������������������������� 5
3.1. Engage a global GBIF community
3.2. Strengthen Participant engagement and capacity
3.3. Recruit new Participant countries
3.4. Recruit strategic partners
3.5. Assess stakeholder needs
Seizing the Future������������������������������������������������ 7

1

Foreword
As we plan a third phase for GBIF, the global
community is acknowledging their failure
to address the growing global biodiversity
crisis. The target set by world leaders at theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development in2002 to substantially reduce biodiversity loss
by 2010, has not been met. The recent Third
Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) provides
unambiguous insights into the alarming declines
in biodiversity, succinctly summarizing that “…
the state of biodiversity in 2010 should serve as a
wake-up call for humanity”.
One reason why the target was missed is thelack of adequate information at national scales
to monitor and measure trends. The global
community agreed to a new set of biodiversity
targets for 2020 at the Convention on Biological
Diversity 10th Conference of the Parties (CBD
CoP10) in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010.
Together with related international agreements
and aspirations on sustainable managementof the planet, the issue of how to access thenecessary scientifically credible and globallycompatible data will become increasingly urgent

Dr Joanne Daly
Governing Board Chairover the next decade – the UN Decade for
Biodiversity. This is the context within which
the GBIF community must implement a further
phase of GBIF, ‘seizing the future’ to benefit
science and society.
GBIF’s 2012–2016 Strategic Plan is based on
the understanding that our core business building and maintaining a global biodiversity
research infrastructure to enable the free flowof biodiversity information - has never been so
necessary, and more so now than when GBIF
was conceived. We must rise to this challenge of
not just investing in providing the much-needed
public mega-science infrastructure, but of reaping
the scientific and societal benefits of the past 10
years of investment. By the end of 2016, GBIF
should have demonstrated an unquestionablerationale for ‘Biodiversity Information Facilities’
becoming a permanent infrastructure in every
country and region. Both science and society
stand to benefit enormously from a fully
operational ‘Global Biodiversity Information
Facility’ accessible to all.

Dr Nicholas King
Executive Secretary

2

Executive Summary
GBIF serves the primary, scientific biodiversity
information indispensable for managing the
global environmental systems on which all oflife depends. As a unique, government-initiatedglobal endeavour, GBIF brings people, countries
and organizations together as both Participants
and beneficiaries to accomplish our vision andmission. Now in our 10th anniversary year,
GBIF celebrates a remarkable achievement. We
have built an informatics platform, networkand processes for mobilizing the knowledge
discovered during humanity’s biological
exploration to date. The 2012-2016 Strategic
Plan builds on this foundation in order to ‘seize
the future’, enabling this ongoing knowledge
discovery to be shared, both today andtomorrow, by using three integrated Strategic
Imperatives to propel GBIF forward.

1. Advance the digital content

Ensure scientific fitness-for-use, impact,
comprehensiveness, and access to new data domains.
GBIF will implement new mechanisms to further
improve the reliability of the data it mediates,and better assess the use, benefits and impact ofthese data. In parallel, GBIF will also continue
to promote and enable the digitization andpublishing of hundreds of millions of additional
primary biodiversity data records. Looking to
the future, GBIF will enhance the capabilityof accessing the increasing wealth of genomicand ecological data describing ever more of
the immense richness of biodiversity still to bediscovered.

2. Advance the informatics
infrastructure

Ensure the most effective distribution, open access,discovery and use, of GBIF-mediated data.
GBIF’s infrastructure – the IT platforms, data
standards, protocols, tools, and services – iscentral to GBIF being the foremost global

resource for biodiversity information, and willkeep up with technological evolution. In thenext five years and across species, genomic andecological realms, GBIF will enhance seamlessdata access, integration, analysis, visualization
and use. At the same time, GBIF will also
foster community development of informatics
standards, tools and services, together benefiting
research, e-training and other applications
throughout the global biodiversity informatics
community.

3. Advance the engagement

Ensure that GBIF benefits the widest global audience- increasing participation and partnerships, capacityand networking.
The GBIF community – Participants, partners,
and users – is indispensable for bringing the huge
wealth of biodiversity records into currency.
By providing interoperability standards forsuch primary data, other major biodiversity
informatics initiatives within and outside thecommunity can build upon the investment in
GBIF. Five critical areas to reach the widest
audience will be: better engaging the global
GBIF community, strengthening Participant
engagement and capacity, attracting newParticipant countries, developing new strategic
partnerships, and better assessing stakeholder
and community needs.

Seizing the Future

Achieving these Strategic Imperatives will allow
GBIF to further realize our enormous potential
in deploying biodiversity knowledge for humanand planetary well-being. This Plan provides thestrategies for expanding GBIF’s impact. Plans for
implementation will be detailed in companion
documents to follow in 2011 and beyond.
These include plans on governance, financial
arrangements, and broadening the funding base,alongside GBIF’s biannual operational Work
Programmes.

3

Introduction
GBIF was established in 2001 as a global megascience initiative to address one of the greatchallenges of the 21st century – harnessing
knowledge of the Earth’s biological diversity.
Meeting this challenge has never been more
important in human history than it is now, and
it is likely to become ever more important in the
future.
VISION - A world in which biodiversity
information is freely and universally available
for science, society, and a sustainable future.
MISSION - To be the foremost global resourcefor biodiversity information, and engendersmart solutions for environmental and humanwell-being.
Knowledge of the Earth’s biodiversity underpins
society’s matrix of fundamental needs: how
to conserve natural resources and ecosystem
function, ensure food production and security,
improve human health, sustain economies,
and enhance the quality of human life. The
urgent need for this knowledge increases daily
as conversion of natural systems accelerates
environmental change, loss of natural capital,
and biological extinction. On the international
stage, GBIF can play a pivotal role enabling
countries to meet the new targets set by theConvention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD)
strategic plan. These, including Target 19, sharingof knowledge, were adopted at the 10th Conferenceof the Parties (CoP10) in Nagoya, Japan, in
October 2010.1 Such biodiversity knowledge isalso required to assist countries in meeting theMillennium Development Goals.
After our first ten years, GBIF has earned
increasing international recognition and trust,1

now with more than 100 Participants including
55 countries and 46 international biodiversityrelated organizations. By the end of 2010,
the network had mobilized more than 270
million records, encompassing more than 300
institutional data publishers and 10,000 datasets.
The biodiversity information GBIF mediates
is unique, comprehensive and scientificallycredible, so accomplishing what no single
country or organization could accomplish alone.
GBIF’s fundamental strengths remain our uniquevision and mission, and our proven ability toachieve them. Medical science occupies similar
ground with respect to the health of one species– Homo sapiens. Biodiversity information, thebusiness of GBIF, takes the pulse of the rest oflife on Earth, estimated at 10-50 million speciesof animals, plants and microbes. But with current
extinction rates, environmental degradation, andclimate change, that pulse weakens daily.
GBIF’s Strategic Plan for 2012-2016 embraces
this global challenge. It builds on two previous
strategic phases – ‘proving the concept’ (2001–
2006), and ‘towards full operation’ (2007–2011),
and it is linked to these via the incorporationof critical findings and recommendations of
two independent assessments commissioned
in 2009: a ‘Review’ and a ‘Forward Look’. This
plan recognizes that GBIF’s continued successdepends on the full participation and guidanceof participating individuals, countries, andorganizations, and an efficient and effective
implementation arm, the Secretariat. Taken
together, the overarching philosophy of thisStrategic Plan is to advance GBIF’s unique
mission, by seizing and serving the future of
biodiversity information for the benefit of scienceand society.

CBD CoP 10 Decision X/2: Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020: www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=12268

4

Strategic Imperatives for 2012-2016
The three strategic imperatives each have theirown priority targets and specific goals, which inturn form the framework for implementation.
The activities, deliverables, timelines andexpected impacts related to these will be
detailed in GBIF’s biannual Work Programmes.
Information on governance and financial
arrangements, including broadening the financialbase, are included in additional companion
documents that will follow in 2011 and beyond.
Fulfilling GBIF’s mission requires theachievement and synergy of all three imperatives,in order to advance the worldwide discovery,
publishing, access, use and application of
biodiversity information.

1. Advance the Digital Content

Ensure scientific fitness-for-use, impact,
comprehensiveness, and access to new data domains.
GBIF will continue to implement significant
advances in the quantity and quality of primarybiodiversity data that it makes accessible
to the global community of scientists otherusers and society as a whole. This imperative
comprises four main objectives, each of which
requires priorities and incentives for effective
implementation.

essentially quarantining them from the very
applications they were intended to inform. Much
concerns the biodiversity of African, Asian,and Central and South American countries thatwould immediately benefit from access to thisknowledge. (ii) Capture new data resources byenabling multiple and enriched data types, suchas metadata, taxonomic names, observations, etc.,
to be linked and accessed.

1.2. Quality: Enhance fitness-for-use

An overarching priority is improving data
fitness-for-use, i.e. increasing data reliability,
both geographic and taxonomic, for scientificresearch and other diverse applications.
This includes documentation of enriched
metadata, user annotations, and enhanced tools
and services for data cleaning, verification,
publishing, and attributing data publishers. Twopriority objectives are: (i) full development andadoption of persistent identifiers (e.g. Global
Unique Identifiers, and others) for biodiversity
data objects across domains, including individualorganisms, taxonomic concepts, genomics, andecosystems; and (ii) improving the accuracy ofgeo-referencing spatial occurrence data.

1.3. Scope: Accommodate data futures

GBIF will fill the major spatial, temporal andtaxonomic gaps in biodiversity data currently
being served across the network, particularly
for biodiversity-rich geographic regions. Mostof the records required to fill these gaps areeither digitized but not yet published through
GBIF, or not yet digitized and held in data-richbiodiversity institutions.

GBIF will address the coming challenge andopportunity of making accessible information
regarding the estimated 90% of the planet’s
biodiversity that is still to be discovered andshared. There may be 10–50 million species intotal, with most of the undiscovered biodiversity
thought to inhabit a nano-biological worldin the air, oceans, soils, and inside otherorganisms. The currency of this knowledge will
not be phenotypic data, but primarily genomic
biodiversity data, with identifiers linked toanimals, plants, microbes, and ecosystems.

GBIF will implement two parallel approaches:(i) Expedite the discovery, digitization andpublishing of legacy data, particularly those
associated with large biological collections, suchas the hundreds of millions of plant and animal
specimens in major national, public, and private
natural history museums and herbaria, primarily
in North America and Europe. Less than 5% of
these specimen data are digitized or published,

A complementary requirement is to allow the
integration of related ecological biodiversity
data, as knowledge of the ecosystem functionof biodiversity is critical to global and national
policy and decision-making. This needs anincreased focus on the relationships between
species and the ecosystems they inhabit, andmobilization of data from varied sources suchas climate change, health, agriculture, marine

1.1. Quantity: Fill the data gaps

5science, environmental impact assessments, andother relevant areas.
Data interoperability and mobilization for bothgenomic and ecological biodiversity can only
be accomplished in close collaboration withpartners.

1.4. Use: Measure data impact

overall infrastructure, the GBIF Data Portal will
be refined with enhanced functionality, tools
and documentation for data discovery, access,mining, verification, annotation, visualization
and use.

2.2. Improve standards andinteroperability

GBIF will improve the assessment of the impact
of GBIF-network data, i.e. the degree of theirincorporation into scientific research (e.g.
through published papers, citation mechanisms
and services), and direct and indirect benefits
and impacts, such as incorporation of results
into relevant policy and decision-making.
Detailed evaluation of the use, effectivenessand real-world impact of GBIF-network data,
supported by solid evidence, is fundamental
for demonstrating the returns on continued
investment by Participants, and will help in the
recruitment of new Participants.

GBIF will continue to catalyse the development
and adoption of biodiversity informatics
standards, a role it has played with great successto date. In anticipation of the integration andserving of future data types, GBIF will work
closely with partners to enable data integrationand interoperability across phenotypic, genomic,
taxonomic, geospatial and ecosystem domains.
Two critical areas for the next five years include:(i) Knowledge Organization Systems such as
vocabularies, thesauri and ontologies; and (ii)
Persistent Identifiers to support a variety of web
services including those for core taxonomies
and nomenclature through the Global Names
Architecture.

2. Advance the Informatics
Infrastructure

2.3. Foster community-developed
standards, tools and services

Ensure the most effective distribution, open access,discovery and use, of GBIF-mediated data.
Informatics is an intensive global research anddevelopment enterprise in the scientific andcorporate worlds. As such, GBIF’s priority
informatics objectives will be addressed withpartners in these communities.

2.1. Expand the distributed infrastructure

GBIF will improve distributed data discovery
and access infrastructure that is scalable, reliable,
powerful, user-friendly, and efficient. GBIF will
extend the current infrastructure components toensure: (i) improved performance, (ii) increased
discovery of data and services, and (iii) support
for the bi-directional movement of data,
annotation and feedback between data users anddata publishers. A key example is linking data
to web-based map services, to facilitate data use
and enhance increased data provision.
GBIF will also provide an increasingly flexible
and distributed infrastructure for Participants, toenable the construction of their own Biodiversity
Information Facilities (BIFs), and the further
uptake of new tools and services. Within the

GBIF will solicit, deploy and promote thebest ideas from the global community foradvancing biodiversity informatics and achieving
GBIF’s strategic imperatives for content andinfrastructure. Where appropriate, GBIF
will leverage the expertise in the informatics
community by implementing creative andcost-effective mechanisms for fostering andincorporating community-developed standards,
tools, and services.

3. Advance the Engagement

Ensure that GBIF benefits the widest global audience- increasing participation and partnerships, capacityand networking.
Key to GBIF’s strategy is the further buildingof country participation and capacity, scientificand technological partnerships, and networked
relationships among stakeholders. Paramount tothis is a richer engagement across the network,and specifically within Participant countries,
between all national stakeholders, biodiversity
research institutions, government ministries andagencies, relevant sub-national authorities, etc.

63.1. Engage a global GBIF community

An effective GBIF global network requires
the engagement of the world’s biodiversity
community. It also requires increasing GBIF’s
recognition, visibility and ‘brand leadership’ in
biodiversity informatics. Both will be achieved
by developing closer and more synergistic
relationships with relevant intergovernmental
processes such as Multilateral Environmental
Agreement (MEA) Secretariats and UN agencies,
GEOSS (GEO BON2), and IPBES3, in addition toregional cooperative initiatives, NGOs, and wider
civil society. GBIF is also ideally placed to play amore central role in the biodiversity informatics
infrastructure required by such processes as the
CBD Clearing House Mechanism, GEO BON and
IPBES.

3.2. Strengthen Participant engagement
and capacity

GBIF’s success in the next five years across all
three strategic imperatives requires increased
Participant engagement and capacity. Enhanced
Participant engagement in their own national
efforts, e.g. their data-rich biodiversity
entities, BIFs, nodes, and maximizing national
stakeholder involvement, will help them realize
a greater return from their historic and ongoinginvestments, and simultaneously increase therealized benefits from participation in GBIF.
In building capacity, GBIF will assist Participants
to establish, consolidate, and expand national,
regional, and thematic ‘biodiversity information
facilities’ (BIFs). GBIF will promote morecapacity building activities between Participants,
such as mentoring programmes and regional
collaboration, to rapidly engage new Participantsin the GBIF network and in building their own
effective BIFs. Priorities include building capacity
to use the informatics infrastructure, including
better documentation, training and e-learning
platforms; distributed helpdesk support;
community networking platforms; and regional
engagement and empowerment. Training is
recognized as a vital component, and requires acomprehensive, web- and site-based programme
ranging from data-publishing to data access,analysis and application. Training tailored to thespecific needs of the Participant node, BIF, or
institution will follow from the needs assessment.

3.3. Recruit new Participant countries

GBIF will prioritize the significant expansionof country participation, particularly those thathave critical in-country biodiversity, and/or holdimportant biodiversity data in their institutions.
This requires more effective communicationand demonstration of the reciprocal benefits of
GBIF participation. Participants leverage theircontinuing investment in their own biodiversity
institutions by enabling the mobilization,
publishing and use of their own data; and they
leverage the use of the globally-held data on theircountry’s biodiversity through the establishmentof their own Biodiversity Information Facilities(BIFs) linked to, and based upon, GBIF bestpractices.

3.4. Recruit strategic partners

GBIF will develop new, strategic, scientificand technological partnerships across thebiodiversity, conservation, genetic/genomic andecosystem realms, to help fulfil the first two
strategic imperatives. Target partners include
significant data holders such as natural history
institutions; scientific users such as scientificsocieties whose members depend on primarybiodiversity data for research and education;scientific and technological entities that candevelop and provide tools for GBIF’s evolving
infrastructure; and major science and technology
entities that can collaborate in implementing
elements of GBIF’s Work Programmes and global
activities.

3.5. Assess stakeholder needs

GBIF will more effectively assess and monitor
the needs of its global, national and regional
communities, i.e. current and future Participants,
the broader scientific research community,
NGOs, and other critical stakeholders. Suchassessments will influence the drive towards theprioritized, demand-driven approach for GBIF’s
activities that is required to meet the Strategic
Imperatives and the needs of Participants andpartners.

2

GEOSS - Group for Earth Observations System of Systems; GEO BON – Group for Earth Observations Biodiversity Observations Network

3

IPBES – Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (www.ipbes.net)(www.earthobservations.org)

7

Seizing the Future
GBIF’s 2012-2016 Strategic Plan seizes the
future. It describes the three fundamental
pillars – advancing data content, the informatics
infrastructure, and engagement of all – that must
be strengthened to enable the achievement ofour mission. All three are essential and must
be advanced together to maximize impact, but
in a rapidly changing world we must also be
prepared, like life itself, to adapt and evolve.
To advance these requires our continued focus
on the mobilization of, and enabling free accessto, primary biodiversity data, their fitness-foruse, and their scientific and societal impact, in
addition to building the informatics, training
and community networking infrastructures thatenable their deployment.
As a growing global network, we mustacknowledge, accept and meet our respective
responsibilities to build these pillars inpartnership. Participants and the Secretariat,
strategic partners and data users, each have ourdifferent roles, and by collaborating under the
GBIF ‘umbrella’, the whole becomes more than asum of the component parts.
In accepting these strategic challenges, we
accept the dual, synergistic and fundamental
responsibilities and commitments at the coreof GBIF: future success depends on Participant
countries and organizations, together with theSecretariat, seizing the future with both hands.
Over the next five years, this Strategic Plan will
provide a solid framework within which to build
our implementation plans – realistic goals andthe means to achieve them. It will enable GBIF
to optimally grow our impact in better serving
science, and thus society and a sustainable future
through improved decision-making.

Secretariat
Universitetsparken 15
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
Tel: +45 35 32 14 70
Fax: +45 35 32 14 80
Email: info@gbif.org
Web: www.gbif.org