The national biodiversity network in the UK

The national biodiversity network in the UK The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) has been developed in the United Kingdom over a period of about five years, forming the NBN Trust in March 2000. The NBN Trust brings together those with shared interests in the collection, management and use of data and information about species, biotopes and sites in the UK. These include volunteers and specialist societies, non-governmental wildlife organisations and the statutory nature conservation agencies and other governmental organisations. By working to common standards, agreeing priorities and sharing data, greater use can be made of the work of the specialists and skilled volunteers that collect biodiversity data in the field. NBN is still developing, but it is beginning to create new opportunities in surveying and monitoring species, managing data and particularly in disseminating data. Central to the development of NBN is a system for providing access to remotely held data sets using internet technology – the NBN Gateway. From a European perspective the most important aspects of the NBN are freedom of access to biodiversity data via the internet Gateway and agreed standards for data and their management and dissemination.