When complete, the projects will together provide to the GBIF network information on more than 75,000 species and 1.8 million species-occurrence data records as well make available 2 software tools (an online georeferencing service and a workflow for extracting information from legacy publications and making them available in a database format).
As directed in the Request for Proposals, the 12 funded projects address major global issues, including Global Climate Change, 2010 Indicators, Invasive Alien Species, Disease Vectors, Pollinators, and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and other conservation strategies.
A total of €365,007 was awarded, with grants ranging in size from €8792 to €50,000.
Among the 12 projects, 3 will provide global coverage for the taxa being treated, 2 will cover regional areas (former USSR, Central America), and 5 will have significance at the national or within-country levels (California, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, SW USA). The remaining 2 will be providing tools that will be useful anywhere in the world.
Taxonomic coverage includes fungi, animals (butterflies, bees, sand and tsetse flies, mosquitos, ground beetles) and plants (liverworts, mosses, flowering plants).
The projects involve personnel from 44 institutions/agencies in 14 countries (Australia, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States of America). The focus of many of the projects is to contribute data that can be used in decision-making concerning sustainable use or management of biodiversity.
Short descriptions of the projects, with indication of countries and institutions represented by the people working on them as well as award size, taxon coverage, and anticipated products are available in PDF format.
In addition to the projects discussed above, which received funds from GBIF, there were 37 proposals for projects that were deemed to be worthwhile, because they demonstrated scientific excellence and had met the criteria of the Request for Proposals. However, GBIF was unable to provide funding because of budget constraints. In these cases, GBIF provided to the project investigators a letter of endorsement that indicated that the project had been through a rigorous review process. GBIF hopes that these projects will therefore be considered favorably by other potential funders.