Private sector holds key data to help preserve Gulf/West Asia ecosystems

(Copenhagen | Muscat, Oman) - A workshop in Muscat, Oman will seek to unlock vital information about the ecosystems of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) / West Asia region, helping to improve knowledge about the impacts of development and improve decision-making.

The two-day event taking place from 15-16 September 2015 will bring together the region’s government regulators and environmental consultants, who will discuss the benefits of sharing species data collected through environmental impact assessments (EIAs) more widely.

Entitled ‘Unlocking biodiversity data from environmental impact assessment’, the workshop is jointly organized by GBIF (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility), the United Nations Environment Programme - Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP-ROWA) and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), Sultanate of Oman.

The event forms part of a GBIF-led project funded by the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) through the Eye on Earth Initiative. The overall aim is to encourage the use of tools that enable sharing and reuse of digitized data that EIAs capture about the distribution of plants, animals and other species.

EIAs commissioned by private corporations are used during the planning of projects both on land and in the ocean, and often include surveys of species found in proposed areas of development. However, even when reports associated with EIAs are made public, the underlying data are rarely redistributed in standard, reusable formats.

“The data locked away in the files of consultants and regulators represents a potential gold mine of information that can improve understanding of the living fabric of the region”, said GBIF Deputy Director, Tim Hirsch. “We hope to show that by using existing, freely available tools, the EIA community can open up those data in a way that helps biodiversity research and supports better regional and global decision-making”.

By sharing such data through open-access platforms like GBIF.org, the public and private sectors can add to and improve global biodiversity data shared by scientists, institutions and citizens.

“Whether for government agencies, academic institutions, private sector organizations or even on an individual level, sharing relevant and accurate data translates into better decisions for our people and our environment,” said Jane Glavan, AGEDI Partnership Project Manager and Eye on Earth Biodiversity Special Initiative Facilitator. “Such collaborative workshops are therefore key to enabling effective decision-making that safeguards the future of our environment”.

The workshop programme will include:

• Practical demonstrations of how to organize data collected during EIAs in formats that allow them to be shared and accessed easily online
• Demonstration of a pilot database/tool that could share EIA data from the GCC / West Asia region
• Presentations on current regional practices for EIAs
• Discussion of both the benefits and challenges of sharing biodiversity data in ways that respect commercial confidentiality and intellectual property rights