GBIF

The GBIF - Global Biodiversity Information Facility - is an international organization funded by the governments of more than fifty countries and other institutions with the aim of building a global database on all forms of life on earth.

Although the idea of creating such a network was formulated in 1999, it was not until 2001 that the GBIF was officially recognised by the participating governments. In the following years, the Secretariat was created as the coordinating body of the entity. One of the main tasks was to make oneself known and to incorporate new participants.

The main objectives of the GBIF can be summarised as follows:

• Create a free and open biodiversity database.
• Encourage scientific exchange to promote the conservation of biodiversity.
• Advancing globally in terms of biotechnology and bioinformatics.
• Influence environmental policies worldwide.

Andorra has been part of the GBIF as a voting member since 2010. Since then, the Centre d'Estudis de la Neu i de la Muntanya d'Andorra of the Institut d'Estudis Andorrans has been Andorra's representative on the GBIF. Currently, Andorra Research + Innovation has taken over and continues to participate with the contribution of data on the country’s biodiversity.

At the moment Andorra has contributed around 116,000 data on seven different taxonomic groups: flora, vertebrates, arthropods, fungi, molluscs, lichens and bryophytes.

You can consult and download the data from Andorra and the rest of the world from the official website of the GBIF.

It is planned that in the near future it will be possible to download Andorran data from a web portal exclusive to the country, where guided consultations can be made based on different filters and, at the same time, other applications can be included to help with the analysis of the data.