In a new report by Deloitte Access Economics, almost half of our users (47 per cent) reported they could not have achieved the same research outcomes without GBIF.
The value of GBIF
The network, infrastructure and services that GBIF provides amplify the impact of our member countries and organizations, data publishers and partners, expanding the scope of possibilities for evidence-based biodiversity research and policy
Inside the GBIF valuation report
GBIF helps catalyse global-scale scientific understanding, evidence-based policy and transformative change.
- The Committee on Data of the International Science Council called GBIF “the most comprehensive, openly available, application-agnostic (most unbiased), easiest-to-use, and modern access point to known digital species occurrence data.”
- A comprehensive review of peer-reviewed research found that GBIF "has enabled basic and applied research use at temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales otherwise not possible, launching biodiversity sciences into a new era."
- And GBIF empowers its users to unlock new insights, with nearly all of them reporting they could not have achieved the same outcomes—across all major scientific disciplines—without GBIF.
Impact across the network
Capacity enhancement
GBIF focuses on people for the simple reason that delivering free and open data on biodiversity relies on the skills, knowledge and commitment of individuals at least as much as it does on any technical infrastructure.
GBIF's capacity enhancement programmes provide researchers, data managers, data users and other stakeholders with the training and resources to enable them to utilize and understand our tools and infrastructure. By equipping individuals with skills critical to data management and network coordination, GBIF increases their capacity to make meaningful contributions to scientific research and policy on global biodiversity.
Infrastructure
GBIF's approach to infrastructure combines a commitment to both incremental improvement and technical innovation, meeting current needs and expectations with an eye toward wider communities and impact.
Biodiversity data is more complicated than just the occurrence of species in time and space: organisms interact, move and evolve. So, too, do the needs of users of biodiversity data as they respond to our evidence-driven understanding of the natural world. From new models and formats that support richer and more varied types of data to innovative applications of new approaches and technologies, GBIF remains committed to ensuring that the benefits of free and open access to biodiversity data remains accessible to anyone anywhere in the world.
Research and policy impact
Experts rely on biodiversity data from the GBIF network to unlock new scientific insights and support evidence-based decision-making. GBIF plays a active role in revealing deeper connections between data, research and policy through its advanced systems for tracking and maintaining data provenance, attribution and citation. These efforts provide a model for other infrastructures to foster transparent, reproducible science and policymaking.
Thematic communities
GBIF supports collaboration and knowledge exchange with experts across numerous biodiversity-related domains. These thematic communities of practice contribute to and use GBIF's data, network, infrastructure and services.
GBIF engages such communities in targeted initiatives aimed at improving the quality, availability, coverage and richness of biodiversity data most relevant to their work. These efforts aim to fill data gaps and support more robust, wide-ranging analyses better able both to increase knowledge and support on-the-ground applications and interventions.
