National Biodiversity Network

Description

The National Biodiversity Network is a UK partnership that makes wildlife and biodiversity data widely available.

It brings together wildlife conservation organisations, government and country agencies, environmental agencies, local environmental records centres and voluntary groups, all of which collect biodiversity data. The idea is to capture wildlife records once in standard electronic form, integrate data from many sources, and use the internet so it can be used many times by as many people as possible. The network grew out of a 1995 report that found biodiversity data scattered across thousands of separate locations with no agreed standards.

The work of the network is facilitated by the NBN Trust, an independent charity set up in 2000 to oversee and support its development. The Trust is backed by a wide range of data contributors and users through a membership scheme, and it is governed by a board of trustees.

Data is made publicly available through the NBN Atlas, an online data warehouse that stores millions of species records covering plants, mammals, birds and invertebrates from across the UK, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Users include government planners, countryside managers, industry and members of the public researching local wildlife. The network directs people needing detailed local information to Local Environmental Records Centres and recording groups.