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Publish biodiversity information!
Encouraging sharing and use of biodiversity information!
Overview
Publication of biodiversity data from the Hindu Kush Himalayan region to enhance its use and application for effective biodiversity conservation and management.
Ecosystem services
Bandana Shakya
Node Manager | HKHBIF
About
The Hindu Kush Himalayan Biodiversity Information Facility (HKHBIF) is dedicated to the collection, publication, and dissemination of biodiversity data from the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
ICIMOD is an associate member of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and HKHBIF is the GBIF-mediated publishing platform that is hosted by ICIMOD. It is a regional node of GBIF that caters to ICIMOD’s eight regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The aim is to sensitize biodiversity data holders on the importance of biodiversity data publishing globally, build a network of data holders and publishers from the region, and motivate them to contribute to building biodiversity data for the HKH.
HKHBIF strategies
2009: Participated as an observer at the GBIF
2012: Installation of Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) and became an associate participant
2013-2017: Capacity strengthening of data holders; promotion of HKHBIF across the region; compilation of datasets from different landscape initiatives of ICIMOD
2018: Publication of biodiversity data from ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Transboundary Landscapes; embedding within ICIMOD RDS
September 2018: GBIF Asia Regional Nodes Meeting organized in Kathmandu
2019: Reactivated HKHBIF (reregistration with GBIF); migration of 14 checklist datasets from earlier HKHBIF IPT; publication of datasets by other data holders and publishers; publication support to 2019 Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA) grantee
July 2019: Sameer Bajracharya receives a data mobilization badge
August 2019: KATH publishes Endemic Flora of Nepal
August 2019: KATH publishes Alien flora of Nepal
March 2020: GBIF announces BIFA grantee for 2020
March 2020: Checklist dataset of ANCA published
July 2020: GBIF organized Asia pacific virtual meet on 17 July 2020
July 2020: GBIF organized Asian Node virtual summit on 20 July 2020
July-August 2020: GBIF organized Data mobilization workshop for BIFA
Let your data be known globally! Let your data find wider research use!
Call to action
Step 1: Download appropriate excel template (checklist, occurrence, sampling data) from GBIF
Step 2: Fill in data and metadata sheet as suggested
Step 3: Send the completed excel sheet to HKHBIF@icimod.org for validation and publishing
Step 4: Once published a link with citation and DOI will be sent to the data publisher
Darwin Core is a standard maintained by the Darwin Core maintenance group. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing identifiers, labels, and definitions. Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, samples, and related information. Darwin core quick reference guide: https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/
Featured
National Herbarium and Plant Laboratories (KATH), Nepal
A team from National Herbrium and Plant Laboratories (KATH) and the Department of Plant Resources, MoFE, Government of Nepal, published an occurrence dataset of Alien Flora of Nepal and Endemic Flora of Nepal based on the herbarium specimens that have been deposited at the National Herbarium and Plant Laboratories (KATH) of the Department of Plant Resources, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu, Nepal. The digitization and publication process of this database was supported by Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA; project no. BIFA3_025) programme of Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) funded by Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan.
Bishnu Shrestha (Nepal) info@dnpwc.gov.np
Bishnu Shrestha works with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). He has published a checklist of the flora (angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes) and fauna (birds and insects) of Api Nampa Conservation Area. A total of 940 species are listed (https://www.gbif.org/dataset/565158dd-9feb-40a8-bb50-4830be6bbc5d#description).
Bharat Babu Shrestha (Nepal)
Photo slider
Species of the month: April 2021
The Asian elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas. They are distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. About a third of Asian elephants live in captivity. Asian elephants are smaller in size and have smaller ears compared to African elephants. Their diet includes grasses, leaves, roots, bark of trees, and bushes.
Their populations have declined by at least 50 percent over the last 60–75 years, causing it to be listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. They are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation, and poaching.
Contribute
Do you want to contribute to the gallery? Send your biodiversity photographs through the form.
Do you want to highlight biodiversity of your region through "Species of the Month". Send your contribution through the form.
Members
Pema Gyamtsho
Director General
Agro-biodiversity Specialist
Sameer Bajracharya
Research Associate GIS Developer
Nakul Chettri
Regional Programme Manager – Transboundary Landscapes
Sudip Pradhan
Programme Coordinator, Regional Database System
Purnamita Dasgupta
Theme Leader-Ecosystems Services
