Transcript GLOBAL FOREST INFORMATION SERVICE

GLOBAL FOREST
INFORMATION SERVICE
Identifying the Need
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Earth Summit 1992 (United Nations
Conference on Environment and
Development), Rio
Agenda 21, Chapter 40:
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Existing national and international
mechanisms of information processing and
exchange, and of related technical
assistance, should be strengthened to
ensure effective and equitable availability
of information generated at the local,
provincial, national and international
levels
Finding a Forum
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The Intergovernmental Forum on
Forests urged international
organizations, donor countries and
financial institutions to enhance
access to forest-related information
and
...to work with IUFRO in exploring
possibilities for a
global forest information
service.
Why IUFRO?
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Independent
Research-oriented
World-wide membership
Long involvement with information
issues
Planning a Solution
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World Forestry Congress 1997
Rovaniemi 1998
ICRIS 1998
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International Consultation on Research
and Information Systems in Forestry
IUFRO Task Force 1999
Six meetings to date
Seeking
Examples
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The Harry Potter
Phenomenon
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Get people
talking
Get them
wanting more
Sell on content
Repackage for
specific
audiences
Translate widely
Send for Harry…
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Challenge the
nightmare
Power of the
individual
With a little help
from our friends
Separate good and
bad
Get info from library
Core Group
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20 institutions
Working as volunteers
Wide-ranging skills
Growing appreciation of library &
information world methodologies –
cataloguing and classification
What is GFIS?
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A network of forest-related
databases
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Spatial
Statistical
Bibliographic
A network of people
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Producers
Users
Intermediaries
What kind of information?
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Quality information
Not censorship, but the means to
decide
Accessible by anyone anywhere
Web-based but with support for
non-electronic sources and users
Cross-searchable metadata
(Cross-)searching within databases
GFIS – the theory
GFIS – the reality
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Two tin cans and a piece of string
Needs someone to talk and
someone to listen
And vice versa
Building GFIS
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IUFRO Secretariat Vienna
FAO Rome
GFIS-Africa
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EU funding
5 nodes
Prospects for Latin America, SE
Asia, Europe
Timescale
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Proof of Concept
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Working Prototype
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IUFRO Congress 2000 (Malaysia)
World Forestry Congress 2002
(Quebec)
Production service
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IUFRO Congress 2005 (Brisbane)
Related activities
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Thesauri
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Subject gateways:
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BIOME, NovaGate, AgNIC, Agrigate
Virtual Library
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FAO, CABI, IUFRO
METLA
Digitisation of non-electronic
sources
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Oxford Digital Library
What next?
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6th Meeting of GFIS Task Force
Portland, Oregon, 12-16 August
2001
Activities 2001-2
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1 Sept 2001: GFIS Special
Programme
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Paid full-time co-ordinator
New GFIS Projects
GFIS-Africa
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Mobilizing scientific information on
forests to promote their sustainable
management in ACP countries
Establishment of 5 GFIS nodes in
Western Africa (Ghana and
Senegal), Eastern Africa (Kenya),
Southern Africa (Zimbabwe) and
Gabon.
GFIS-Latin America
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A proposal to the World Bank
Information for Development
Program
Enhancing access to scientific
information to promote sustainable
forestry in Latin America within the
framework of GFIS
27 November 2000
GFIS-North America
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US Adaptive Management Area
Information Portal
Information gateway for forest
research sites in US Pacific
Northwest
GFIS-Europe
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EFIS: European Forest Information
System
EC-JRC funding c. €250000
Jan 2001-Mar 2002
EFI, GMD, Tharandt, WCMC
Activities for 2001-2
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Data Provision: encourage providers
to register
‘Housekeeping’ by IUFRO
Secretariat
Technical development proposal
from consultant group by end of
year
Activities for 2001-2
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Business Plan to IUFRO
Management Committee Autumn
2001
GFIS Charter and Strategic Plan
developed by Spring 2002
Activities for 2001-2
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Support for joint forestry thesaurus
project
Task Force to be extended to
Corresponding Members
GLOBAL FOREST
INFORMATION SERVICE