This will provide a biodiversity information module to decision makers in the oil and gas sector, to facilitate industry efforts in biodiversity protection. Early access to this information will enable companies to address potential impacts on wildlife and their habitats before any operations begin.

This agreement contributes to other biodiversity data enhancement activities undertaken by the Centre. UNEP-WCMC and conservation partners will continue to make data freely available for non-commercial conservation purposes.

BUILDING CAPACITY FOR BIODIVERSITY MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT IN NEPAL (BCBMAN) (posted 28 July 2004)

Nine institutions from Latin America and Europe are working together through BIOCORES to analyse different aspects of the impact of forest fragmentation on biodiversity, and methods of tackling the issue through ecosystem restoration. The project is working in four areas in Mexico and Chile, and has an emphasis on developing practical techniques for analysis, decision support and forest restoration. Our analysis will enable the impact of different land use options on biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration to be evaluated. This project is being carried out under the ICA4-CT-2001-10095 contract, in the INCO programme of the EC.

The BINU project will develop biodiversity indicators to support planning and decision-making at the national-level in Ecuador, Kenya, Philippines and Ukraine. The results will also be disseminated to strengthen the capacities of other countries and the development of indicators under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Biodiversity Aysén Project is developing the capacity of the Chilean protected areas authority (CONAF) to sustainably manage protected areas in the southern Chilean region of Aysén. It is implemented by Raleigh International and CONAF, in collaboration with the natural history museums of London and Santiago and technical assistance from UNEP-WCMC.

EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE

The collaboration with Earthwatch is:

• providing a forum where Earthwatch project field results will be linked directly to the relevant UNEP-WCMC databases that are globally accessible;
• providing up-to-date information from the field to UNEP-WCMC helping them achieve their aim of improving the quality and integrity of the global and regional datasets of their Biodiversity Information System (BIS).

PROJECT PROTEUS