Regional: Nature & Biodiversity | EC-CHM | EEA | EUNIS | ECNC | EPBRS

'The European GTI Toolkit'

Capacity Building for the Global Taxonomy Initiative

In June 2004, a workshop was held at the International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA) on the Isle of Vilm, Germany. This workshop called ‘Building Capacity for the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) in a larger Europe’ brought together 16 representatives of 13 countries and international organisations to report about the current state of taxonomy and taxonomic institutions in their countries, and to discuss further steps in implementing the GTI in a wider Europe.

One outcome of the discussions at the workshop was the call for a ‘European GTI-Toolkit’, in which relevant documents and reports from CBD bodies, information about funding mechanisms and opportunities for taxonomists, sources for taxonomic data, such as maps, gazetteers, should be collected. The purpose of this toolkit is to allow new and upcoming GTI National Focal Points to get started efficiently and to avoid double work. Furthermore scientists and the public should have a single source to learn about taxonomy and the GTI process. All necessary information should be at hand to do so at a single source. One outcome of the discussions at the workshop was the call for a European GTI-Toolkit, in which all relevant documents and reports from CBD bodies, information about funding mechanisms and opportunities, sources for taxonomic data, maps, gazetteers, etc should be collected, to allow new and up coming GTI Focal Points and individuals to become involved in the GTI and to get started efficiently.

This European-Toolkit is now continued by 14 specialists from 11 countries during very lively discussions in Stuttgart at the SMNS in June 2005.

This workshop did include a lot of hands-on work by all participants in collecting and arranging documents, and also in writing introductions and texts in as many European languages.

We, the organizers are very gratefull for the important contributions each of the participants made to collect the up-to-date information!

Fabian Haas & Christoph L. Häuser

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