Free and unrestricted access to research results and publications, known as open access (OA), is key to speeding up scientific discovery. There is also growing evidence that OA maximises the impact of research through better dissemination and uptake of research findings.

But how can we make this a truly global and sustainable endeavour? This was much discussed at the recent Berlin 9 Open Access conference in Washington DC.

Read More

Geospatial information can empower decision-making on "extremely important" concerns in developing countries, such as development andenvironmental conservation, said Susan Wolfinbarger, from the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Read More

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), together with 17 multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), has launched a new webportal, titled "InforMEA," that draws information from the MEAs’ individual websites to permit a user to search for information related to decisions and resolutions, news and events, meeting calendars, and national focal points across all of the participating MEAs.

As of June 2, 2011, all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies Press (NAP) will be downloadable free of charge to anyone. This includes current catalog of more than 4,000 books plus future reports published by NAP.*

Free access to online content supports the mission of NAP—publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council–to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health.

Read More

Biodiversity and climate change issues are coming together under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), according to a new working paper from the University of Edinburgh. The CBD is engaged in questions relating to climate change, it found. In particular, the CBD has progressively addressed legal and policy implications of the impacts on biodiversity of climate change, as well as mitigation and adaptation measures.

Read More

Abstract: Ecology is a synthetic discipline benefiting from open access to data from the earth, life, and social sciences. Technological challenges exist, however, due to the dispersed and heterogeneous nature of these data. Standardization of methods and development of robust metadata can increase data access but are not sufficient. Reproducibility of analyses is also important, and executable workflows are addressing this issue by capturing data provenance. Sociological challenges, including inadequate rewards for sharing data, must also be resolved. The establishment of well-curated, federated data repositories will provide a means to preserve data while promoting attribution and acknowledgement of its use.

There are several new and updated species distribution datasets available for download from the Red List website, including many marine groups like Angelfish and Butterfly fish. All Mangroves and Seagrasses have also been posted. Other than that, many species within the Amphibians and the Mammals group have also been updated. Distribution data is now available for about 20,000 species.

Read More

  Since its creation in 1979 WCMC has produced well over 1500 books and reports. These include both published documents and ‘grey’ literature, commissioned reports and items in the public domain. UNEP-WCMC has selected 380 of the most important books and reports from this collection, and has worked with the Biodiversity Heritage Library to make these freely available online.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has joined forces with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to create protectedplanet.net – an interactive, social media-based website that provides in-depth information on both the leading lights and hidden gems of the conservation world.

Read More