Dear TDWG members and Colleagues:
TDWG looks back at 20 years of efforts to advance standardisation of data used to describe, name and analyse global biodiversity. This year's meeting in St. Petersburg marks the discussion of several new standards that are of utmost importance for the establishment and operation of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
TDWG has always depended on voluntary contribution, its process being completely community driven. This has worked well whenever individuals and organisations have dedicated the time and efforts necessary to advance the standard development. However, this voluntary form of organisation has also been an impediment, not allowing us to move ahead the organisational tasks that surround a successful standardisation body, such as developing appropriate procedural rules, making the organisation and its scope known to all interested communities, and disseminating its results appropriately.
I am therefore extremely pleased to report the success of efforts initiated last year by the than Chair of the TDWG Executive Committee, Stan Blum, and Donald Hobern, the GBIF's Programme Officer for Data Access and Database Interoperability, with the aim of giving TDWG a solid organisational base for its important function.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has just awarded nearly USD 1.5 million to the GBIF - TDWG partnership. The funded project is designed to establish a more formal process for development and maintenance of each of the TDWG standards. The grant also includes funding to implement online collaboration tools for use by, among others, the TDWG working groups. Enabling such collaboration is intended to increase the productivity of these groups. To carry out these tasks, dedicated staff will be recruited. Also, contracts will be placed to develop documentation and software tools to support the existing TDWG standards.
In addition, the project will organise two international workshops aimed at developing a model and central services for global unique identifiers to be used in biodiversity informatics.
During the 30 months of the project period, TDWG's ongoing requirements for staff and infrastructure will be examined, and a long-term support model will be developed for the organisation.
Walter Berendsohn Chair, TDWG Executive Committee