The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international open data research infrastructure, funded by governments. It allows anyone, anywhere to access primary data about all types of life on Earth, shared via the global portal www.gbif.org and through national and thematic portals. GBIF operates through a network of Participant Nodes that coordinates the biodiversity information facilitation of participant countries and organizations. The data are published by many institutions from around the world with full support for the FAIR open data principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). By encouraging and helping institutions to publish data according to common standards, GBIF enables research that could previously not be performed and informs better decisions to conserve and sustainably use the biological resources of the planet.
GBIF was established in March 2001, following a recommendation from the OECD Mega-science Forum in 1999. Norway became a voting member in April 2004. The Norwegian participant node, GBIF Norway (www.gbif.no), established in 2005, is hosted by the Natural History Museum in close cooperation and coordination with the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC, Artsdatabanken.no), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), UiT Arctic University of Norway (UiT), and University of Bergen (UiB). The mission of GBIF Norway is to make information from Norwegian collections and other sources available to the international GBIF network and to coordinate GBIF-related activities in Norway. GBIF Norway contributes to teaching at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo with a focus on accessing and using species occurrence data. We are actively improving the quality of the data sets published in GBIF from Norway. GBIF Norway provides a platform for implementing persistent and resolvable identifiers for Norwegian datasets.
In total GBIF Norway facilitated (in September 2024) the publication of 51,1 million records from 451 datasets at more than 41 Norwegian institutions to the GBIF network. More than 104 peer-reviewed scientific papers cite the use of GBIF-mediated data published from Norway. The global GBIF portal includes (in September 2024) 3,0 billion data records from 108 665 datasets at more than 2 284 data publishing institutions worldwide. More than 11 103 peer-reviewed scientific papers cite the use of GBIF-mediated data.
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world's governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.
GBIF operates through a network of Nodes which coordinates the biodiversity information facilitation of participant countries and organizations, collaborating with each other and the Secretariat to share skills, experiences, and technical capacity. The data are published by many institutions from around the world and include scientific names data, primary distribution and monitoring data on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes. By encouraging and helping institutions to publish data according to common standards, GBIF enables research that could previously not be performed and informs better decisions to conserve and sustainably use the biological resources of the planet.
Strategic priorities
1. Empower global network
Ensure that governments, researchers, and users are equipped and supported to share, improve and use data through the GBIF network, regardless of geography, language, or institutional affiliation.
2. Enhance biodiversity information infrastructure
Provide leadership, expertise, and tools to support the integration of all biodiversity information as an interconnected digital knowledgebase.
3. Fill data gaps
Prioritize and promote mobilization of new data resources which combine with existing resources to maximize the coverage, completeness, and resolution of GBIF data, particularly with respect to taxonomy, geography, and time.
4. Improve data quality
Ensure that all data within the GBIF network are of the highest possible quality and associated with clear indicators enabling users to assess their origin, relevance, and usefulness for any application.
5. Deliver relevant data
Ensure that GBIF delivers data in the form and completeness required to meet the highest-priority needs of science and, through science, society.