The Republic of Colombia has regained its status as Voting Participant with the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the country's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
''Colombia faces the challenge of reconciling development with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity so that the country's natural wealth can be a source of well-being and opportunity," said Sandra Vilardy, who led the process of reincorporation as former Vice Minister of Environmental Policy and Standardization of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. "Our return to the GBIF community as a voting country underscores our commitment to open access to biodiversity information and our conviction that consolidating a biodiversity information system is one of the most essential tools for comprehending the state of biodiversity knowledge in our country."
Situated in the northwestern corner of South America, Colombia in many ways owes its remarkable biodiversity to its unique biogeography. The country encompasses diverse ecosystems, ranging from the Andes to the Amazon rainforest and its Atlantic coast. Its location, climate and topography have fostered the evolution of approximately one tenth of the world's known species, establishing its place as a genuine biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's megadiverse countries.
Colombia’s participation in GBIF has also strengthened regional cooperation, created alliances with neighbouring countries and promoted the exchange of knowledge and good practices in biodiversity management. Recent achievements by the national node earned the Excellence Award in the inaugural GBIF node awards and a feature profile in Nature.
The more than 200 institutions from Colombia that publish data form the GBIF's second-largest national network of data providers that together contribute more than 27 million occurrence records. Only Brazil—with four times the population and eight times the land mass—contributes more data about Latin America and the Caribbean region.
With overall coordination facilitated by SiB Colombia at its home base in the Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Colombia supports the third largest national audience of users on GBIF.org, who together are responsible for making the fifth largest number of downloads worldwide.
"We are thrilled to welcome Colombia back as a Voting Participant in GBIF," said Joe Miller, the Executive Director of GBIF. "Their indisputable commitment to biodiversity conservation and data sharing should inspire other countries grappling with the challenges of biodiversity management, as it highlights the importance of international cooperation and data sharing in addressing the pressing environmental challenges facing our planet."