With the aim of developing initiatives for the study and conservation of biodiversity at the national level, based on scientific evidence and the use of data, the scientists from the BASE Millennium Institute PhD. Claudia Maturana and Melisa Gañán will add their knowledge of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biodiversity.
May 03, 2023.- Promote and encourage free access to biodiversity data in the country and promote collaboration between national and international initiatives related to biodiversity data, are part of the objectives of the GBIF Chile Node, and that after the creation of a multisectoral work group, will have the participation of Claudia Maturana, PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and affiliated researcher at the BASE Millennium Institute, and Melisa Gañán, a doctoral student from the BASE Millennium Institute and the University of Barcelona.
Thus, with the aim of drafting a governance proposal for the GBIF Chile network that allows the development, in its implementation, of a collaborative framework of community policies, agreements, norms and standards, systematic work has begun with researchers: “The results they will be proposed to interested parties to guide the exchange, publication, management and use of data on biodiversity in Chile”, points out Melisa Gañán, also a researcher at the University of Magallanes, of the Millennium Nucleus of Southern Invading Salmonids (INVASAL) and the Cape Horn International Center (CHIC).
The work also seeks to articulate the work of the different public and private representatives that provide Biodiversity data and determine how public policies in the country can be strengthened: “Before, anyone who wanted to be part of the collaborators could upload data, but now they You want to create a policy that protocolizes and shapes the data. What is published, how they impact and which ones could have priority”, says PhD. Claudia Maturana, also a researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) and the CHIC Center.
Thus, the Millennium Biodiversity Institute of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems (BASE), the Millennium Nucleus of Southern Invading Salmonids (INVASAL), and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) through the researchers Gañán and Maturana, will actively work on the table of governance to design an articulated operating structure. This structure, even with an initial development, “will make it possible to face challenges in terms of management and information on the country’s biodiversity”, both scientists emphasize, with research work in Santiago and Puerto Williams.
GBIF or Global Biodiversity Information Facility is an intergovernmental initiative that arises from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with the aim of creating an accessible information network on biodiversity, in order to facilitate and promote scientific research. The GBIF Chile Node is managed by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) which, as a signatory entity, is responsible for its implementation.
The governance table is made up of representatives from public sector institutions, universities, scientific entities, the private sector, museums, non-governmental organizations and citizen science, all GBIF partners who must have experience in publishing biodiversity data. Specifically, this Board is made up of the Millennium BASE Institute, the University of Chile, the University of Magallanes, the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Agriculture (SUBPESCA), the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), Econativa Consultores, Cienciambiental Consultores, the Center for Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Museum of Natural History, Museum of Zoology of the University of Concepción, and the NGO Alianza Zona Norte de Quilpué.
More information at https://gbifchile.mma.gob.cl/
By: Nadia Politis and Marcelo Sotomayor
Main photography: BASE Millennium I./ Claudia Maturana
