Enhancing biodiversity data mobilisation from Nepal

Organisers: Forest Action Nepal, ICIMOD, GBIF

About the event

This two-day national consultation will bring together government agencies responsible for biodiversity conservation and management, biodiversity experts, academia, and national herbaria and museums to discuss Nepal’s capacity for open access biodiversity data mobilisation, and the opportunities and challenges to do so. The event will focus on the strategic use of open-access platforms like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and its regional node, the Hindu Kush Himalayan Biodiversity Information Facility (HKHBIF) hosted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), to support national, regional, and global biodiversity commitments.

Objectives                 

1. To disseminate learnings from the regional training on biodiversity data mobilisation by participants attending the training
2. To discuss the scope, priorities, and interest on part of key agencies in Nepal in sharing and mobilising biodiversity data through GBIF and HKHBIF.
3. To develop ideas for proposal and partnerships that address relevant targets of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and tap into the funding opportunities such as Global Biodiversity Fund.

Expected outcomes

• Increased awareness among national institutions on the importance and use of open biodiversity data for conservation and policy.
• List of interested institutions and potential datasets for publication via GBIF/HKHBIF.
• Draft ideas for funding proposals linked to KMGBF targets, especially Target 21 (knowledge and data), Target 20 (capacity building), Target 14 (mainstreaming biodiversity), and Target 1 (spatial planning).
• Strengthened collaboration among biodiversity data holders in Nepal.

Background

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is a biodiversity rich region facing significant threats from land-use change, habitat degradation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. Despite advancements in biodiversity research across the HKH, there is a notable gap in awareness, capacity, and the importance of open access biodiversity data. This gap is particularly evident in the underutilisation of platforms like the GBIF and its regional nodes, such as the HKHBIF hosted by ICIMOD. These platforms directly support the achievement of the KMGBF targets by making biodiversity knowledge accessible for evidence-based conservation actions, research, and policy development.

To address the capacity needs for biodiversity data sharing and use in the HKH, ICIMOD in collaboration with partner organisations from Bhutan, China, India and Nepal has been leading a GBIF-funded project on enhancing the capacity of biodiversity institutions within the region.

As a part of the project, ICIMOD hosted a regional training in May 2025 bringing experiences from collaborating institutions on biodiversity data mobilisation and use based on GBIF and HKHBIF data infrastructure. Participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan attended the three-day on-site training in Nepal. Following the regional training, participants, with support from the project team, are organising in-country webinars to disseminate the knowledge widely.

This in-country event for Nepal, led by Forest Action Nepal in collaboration with ICIMOD, aims to scale up knowledge dissemination, catalyse national networks for biodiversity data mobilisation, and extend the collaboration to co-define elements of a funding proposal.