The tropical Indo-Pacific is recognized as the world’s most diverse marine environment, but its size and remoteness present challenges for documenting and studying biodiversity. This project will build on the protocols, tools and growing network of collaborators established by the Diversity of the Indo-Pacific Network and VertNet to mobilize biodiversity data and identify conservation priorities in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia.
The project aims to:
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Conduct a workshop to train conservationists, academic researchers, and collection managers how to mobilize and digitize biodiversity data
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Publish datasets to GBIF
These nations are arrayed along an important gradient in marine biodiversity that peaks in the Coral Triangle, which encompasses the Indo-Malay-Philippines Archipelago as well as the Solomon Islands. While efforts to survey and digitize biodiversity in islands to the west of the Solomons are well underway, there has been comparatively little attention given to archipelagos that lie to the east. The paucity of data from the region is alarming given that the island nations of the Pacific rely on marine resources as a major source of food security. Given the increasing impact of human activities it is important to mobilize biodiversity data from the region so that scientists and citizens can understand what is at stake.
