On Tuesday, the ALA was a proud recipient of a CSIRO Medal for Impact from Science. These awards recognise exceptional individuals or research teams in CSIRO who have created value for customers through innovation that delivers
impact for Australia.
Nominations for CSIRO awards were open to all CSIRO teams in Australia and internationally. The ALA was awarded the medal for our efforts as a team to identify an innovative solution and associated infrastructure to enable the hosting of national biodiversity information portals across the globe.
Since 2014, the ALA and GBIF’s partnership in biodiversity data management has enabled solutions for countries all around the world to host their own national biodiversity information portals. These solutions take us closer to a global approach to biodiversity data management.
“This is an amazing example of what can be achieved through strong collaboration both inside and outside of CSIRO, to deliver a system that provides clear information about Australia’s biodiversity; a system that is being used to ensure superior biodiversity management into the future for Australia,” said Toni Moate, Director, National Collections and Marine Infrastructure, CSIRO.
For more information about the 2017 CSIRO Award winners visit CSIRO news.
The ALA is made possible thanks to its many partners. It is supported through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), and is hosted by CSIRO.
GBIF Living Atlases programme
Fragmentation of biodiversity data is a global challenge and not unique to Australia. The ALA’s work with GBIF to facilitate other countries to develop biodiversity information platforms using ALA e-infrastructure contributes towards a more sustainable and aligned approach for management of biodiversity data.
An expanding community of practice is being established at the global level based on biodiversity information management best practice and a shared technology platform.
The ALA’s open source platform is an increasingly key enabling component within the GBIF network, with several countries around the world either using or implementing ALA infrastructure, collaborating to share knowledge and best practice, as well as benefitting from the platform’s interoperability capabilities.
To date Spain, France, Portugal, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Scotland, Canada and Estonia have used all or parts of the ALA’s open software platform and several other countries are currently investigating its use.
Further information can be found on the GBIF Living Atlases site.
