1

Information Context for

Biodiversity Conservation

Info2000 proposal #5052July 1997

2

Consortium Partners

• Union of International Associations (UIA)Brussels - Coordinator

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) Cambridge

• Nordic School of Management (NSM)Oslo

• AIDEnvironment, Amsterdam

3

Project Goals -- Understanding

• Links between threats to biodiversity

• Organized responses of society to these threats

• Impact of both on conservation of species and ecosystems

• Involvement of users as partners

4

Integrated Multimedia Resource Package

• Key environmental problems and their interactions

• Societal action dealing with these problems

• Species, ecosystems and sites affected by problems and solutions

• Organizations concerned

• Other information sources, external websites, etc

5

Links together ...

• Information on threatened species and habitats

• Cultural, geographic, heritage contexts

• Policy, economic and social contexts

6

Hyperlinked context

• Taxonomic tree structures of species

• Current environmental threats

• Conservation strategies, treaties

• Species action plans

• International organizations

• Bibliographic references

7

Hyperlinked Datasets

Problems

StrategiesOrganizations

Bibliography

Animals

Plants

Marinehabitats

Forest habitats

Protectedareas

8

Project addresses needs of ...

• Policy makers, government administrations, field officers

• Educational institutions, libraries, journalists / media, students

• NGOs, advocacy organizations, activists

• Researchers

• Concerned citizens

9

Focus: Europe• Natura 2000 (***)

• Biological and Landscape Diversity (Council of Europe)

• Environmental Programme for Europe (UN/ECE)

• Environment in Developing Countries (EU)

• Community Action Programme on the Environment (***)

• Parks for Life: Action for Protected Areas (IUCN)

10

Focus: Europe in the World

• Bern Convention (19**)

• Bonn Convention (19**)

• Ramsar Convention (19**)

• Caracas Action Plan (19**)

• Global Biodiversity Strategy (19**)

• Agenda 21 (1992)

11

Focus: European elements

• European agreements

• European directives

• European aspect of international agreements

• European data sources

• European websites

• European production

• European languages

12

Related EU-funded Partner Initiatives

• Management of CITES trade data– preparation of EU Annual Report– development of Wildlife Trade Reference

• Support to EEA in development of EIONET– advice on Clearing House Mechanism

• Support to EEA Topic Centre on Nature Conservation

• Involvement in information campaign on – Pan-European Biological and Landscape

Diversity Strategy

13

Information sources

• WCMC datasets: – threatened species– protected areas and sites– habitat maps (marine/forests)

• UIA datasets: – perceived world problems– advocated strategies/actions– international and regional organizations

14

European sources

• Secretariats in Europe– international organizations– European regional organizations

• Meetings in Europe– international organizations– European regional organizations

• Memberships in Europe– International organizations– European regional organizations

15

Project results

• CD-ROM

• Website(s)

• Hybrid CD-ROM / Web

• Interactive involvement of user-partners

16

Strategy: Product-Process-Service

• Single tangible “product” - CD-ROM

• Ongoing “service” - website(s)

• Interactive process

17

Strategic cycle

• Information gathering (+ feedback)

• Information processing and refinement

• Marketing of product-service

• Updating and reviewing information

• Dissemination (notably to evoke feedback)

18

Strategic Impact for Info2000

• Present multimedia content• Stimulate policy relevance of multimedia• Support two European content providers• Support multimedia content innovation• Increase user/information interactivity• Reduce gap between suppliers and users• Make available integrated datasets• Support implementation of EU

commitments

19

Work to be done: Information

• Augment existing datasets • Create new datasets

• Improve links between datasets• Improve links to partner datasets• Improve links to third-party sites

• Implement feedback processes• Increase access to datasets

20

Work to be done: Multimedia

• Develop map facilities

• Develop image facilities

• Develop sound facilities

• Develop 3-D displays

• Develop interface design

21

Work to be done: Software

• Clickable images and maps

• Integrating automatic translation

• Feedback, forum and access facilities

• Webserver issues (including billing)

• Exploitation of VRML for 3D

• Exploitation of search engines

• Interface design

22

Work to be done: Marketing

• Undertake user workshops

• Develop sponsorship relationships

• Clarify user needs and demands

• Undertake Web marketing

• Product-service launch

23

Work to be done: Workshops

• Euro2000

• South Pacific

• etc

• etc *******

24

Product Languages (+ English)

• UIA – Interfaces: French, German – Subject queries: Fr, Ge, Ne, Sp, It...– Title translation: Fr, Ge, Sp, Ne, No…– Text translation: Fr, Ge, Sp

• WCMC – Interfaces: Fr, Sp– Text translation: Fr, Sp

25

Technology base of Partners (use of computers)

• UIA – Reference book publication (1972- )– Local area network (1984- )– CD-ROM Folio publication (1995- )– Website - static (Jan 1996- )

• WCMC – Reference book publication (1980-)– Local area network (1981- )– GIS-ARC/INFO (1989- )– Webserver - dynamic (1994- )

26

Technology for Project

• Software (Windows environment):– Databases: Revelation, FoxPro***– CD-ROM: FolioViews (or alternative)– Webservers: To be determined– Standards: HTML, VRML, Folio

• Hardware:– CD-ROM– Webservers: To be determined

27

Innovative Features

• Integration of disparate datasets• Extensive hyperlinking• Interactive access by users to datasets• User access to user feedback• User own-use annotation (on CD)• Integrated multimedia: maps, 3D, AV• Integrated use of WWW & CD-ROM• Issue-specific sponsorship opportunities• Innovative partnerships & User-partners

28

Marketing Plan

• Involvement of users as partners

• User workshops at international events

• Information via partner networks

• Use of commercial distribution network

• Internet/Web marketing techniques

29

Business Plan =Cost recovery and Reinvestment

• Flexible response to business uncertainties

• Rapidly evolving product-service

• Flexible pricing & Marketing experiments

• Ensure low data costs through partnerships

• Build on existing infrastructure

• Develop sponsorship arrangements

• Reconfigure in response to feedback

30

Partner Costs topartner

EU fundrequest

Partnerresources

UIA 662,486 260,000 402,486

WCMC 540,376 215,000 325,376

NSM 23,678 9,000 14,678

AIDEnv 37,413 13,000 24,413

Overall Costs

Partner Costs topartner

EU fundrequest

Partnerresources

UIA 662,486 260,000 402,486

WCMC 540,376 215,000 325,376

NSM 23,678 9,000 14,678

AIDEnv 37,413 13,000 24,413

Partner Costs topartner

EU fundrequest

Partnerresources

UIA 662,486 260,000 402,486

WCMC 540,376 215,000 325,376

NSM 23,678 9,000 14,678

AIDEnv 37,413 13,000 24,413

Partner Costs topartner

EU fundrequest

Partnerresources

UIA 662,486 260,000 402,486

WCMC 540,376 215,000 325,376

NSM 23,678 9,000 14,678

AIDEnv 37,413 13,000 24,413

Total 1,263,953 497,000 766,953

31

Prototype: Features

• CD-ROM access and navigation software• Multi-lingual access + data• Integration of partner datasets• Map facilities (pre-clickable)• Image and sound possibilities• Use of 3-D displays of interlinkages• Web integration (+ query links)• Facilities for data modification by user

32

Prototype: Data Contents

• Threatened animals: 9,758• Threatened plants (Europe): 4,728• Protected areas (188 countries)• Habitats / country: marine: 99; forest: 179• Perceived world problems 29,021 + loops• Strategies & responses 22,710• International organizations 3,689• References: UIA 4,053; WCMC 9,966

33

Prototype: Hyperlink Contents= Dataset Integration

34

Prototype: Multimedia Contents

• Maps

• Images

• Sound

• 3-D displays

35

World problems: beginning of entry

36

World problems: end of entry

37

World problems: search template (English)

38

World problems: Polar bear (beginning)

39

World problems: loop interlocks in 3D

40

World problems: interlocks in 3D

41

World problems: loop interlocks

42

International organizations: network in 3D

43

International organizations: starburst 3D (UN system)

44

International organizations: sphere 3D (EU system)

45

International organizations: sphere 3D (EU system)

46

International organizations: World Bank system

47

Forest information: Madagascar (beginning)

48

Forest information: Madagascar (map)

49

Marine information: France (beginning)

50

Marine information: search template (English)

51

International organizations: sphere 3D (EU system)

52

International organizations: sphere 3D (EU system)

53

International organizations: search template (French)

54

International organizations: sphere 3D (EU system)