The Global Biodiversity Information Facility

"Biodiversity or biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems" (Convention on Biological Diversity, Art. 2, para. 1). The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (www.gbif.org) mission is to make the world's biodiversity data freely and universally available via the Internet. GBIF was established and is being maintained by an ever-growing consortium of forward-thinking countries, economies and international organizations. Its charge is to carry out specific tasks that…