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British-Irish Council
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Annual Report – 2012
The UK’s National Biodiversity Network Gateway acts as a “data warehouse” for
biodiversity information, which can be quickly and easily accessed to understand the
distribution of particular species in the UK. Individual records, covering plants, mammals,
birds and invertebrates, are stored on the NBN Gateway and these can then be displayed
on a map of the UK in a number of different ways.
In late 2012 the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) enhanced the National
Biodiversity Network Gateway to include the Channel Islands allowing them to share their
monitoring and surveillance data on invasive species with the UK. By widening the scope
of the gateway, to include other BIC Administrations and relevant stakeholders, it provides
more parties with access to a shared data pool allowing for better assessment of the risk of
the arrival of a particular invasive species and the impact once established.
As a next step, officials are hoping to use investment in the Global Biodiversity Information
Facility (GBIF) to share data at broader scales including between the NBN Gateway and the
equivalent mechanism in Ireland (National Biodiversity Data Centre) to provide a wider
picture of the distribution of species across the British-Irish Council region and beyond
into Europe.
Channel Islands to join the UK’s National Biodiversity Network
In 2013 the work sector will hold an experts’ workshop on Non-Native Species as well as
focusing on Sustainable Consumption and Production, which will be the main topic for the
next Ministerial meeting to be held on the Isle of Man.
The full communiqués from all BIC Ministerials can be found on the website:
