Western Ghats Biodiversity Open Collaborative Information System – Knowledge Commons for Conservation

Over the last few decades there has been an explosion of studies to assess the past and present status of species and ecosystems of the Western Ghats. Despite the opportunities provided by these studies there are concerns about the present status of biodiversity, and the ability to predict the response of biodiversity to local and global environmental change. There are extensive studies and collection of specimens, species occurrence records, and distribution maps of species of the Western Ghats dispersed among many institutions and individuals. All the data, information, and knowledge generated by various entitities during various time periods across various themes, if shared on an open, collaborative information platform, could serve to overcome the gaps in conservation as well development of appropriate policy for forest management.

The Western Ghats Biodiversity Open Collaborative Information System or shortly Western Ghats Portal (WGP) aims to serve as a one-stop solution for biodiversity information needs of Western Ghats conservation community. WGP will be a collaborative information system that will aggregate and integrate an array of biodiversity knowledge (eg. datasets, analysis tools and published works) available with several entities in order to identify and prioritize conservation of biodiversity in the Western Ghats. Such a comprehensive, single point, collaborative and community owned information system will facilitate a transparent and informed approach towards conservation. WGP portal intends to aggregate biodiversity information for public good, by leveraging Web 2.0 technology to aggregate data and publish it on a portal with the objective of "connect, share, disseminate". All data on the portal will be freely and openly available to the public over the Internet and distributed under the Creative Commons (CC) licenses.

Speaker

B.R. Ramesh, researcher, French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

Organisers

Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry.

Venue

Main Indology Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605 001.