Purpose

The Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (TFBIS) Programme supports the conservation of New Zealand's indigenous biodiversity, by increasing awareness of and access to fundamental data and information about terrestrial and freshwater biota and biodiversity. The Programme is one of a number of initiatives introduced in July 2000 to implement the Government's commitment to achieving the goals of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (NZBS).

TFBIS mission:

“Support seamless access to essential biodiversity data, information and knowledge to achieve the goals of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy 2000”

Funding Round Closed

Applications closed on the 4th of August for TFBIS Programme projects. These are currently being reviewed before presentation to the Steering Committee for comment. The next invitation for applications is anticipated in May – June 2009.

New Funding Emphasis

The implementation of the TFBIS Strategy (PDF) will have an influence on the types of projects that receive funding. The major changes will see:

• Less spending on digitisation of existing data and information – in the past significant investment was made in digitisation of information and data. Limited investment in this area is anticipated in the next few years.
  
• Significant increase in spending on providing underlying and connecting infrastructure, together with the development of supporting standards, privacy, data access, and intellectual property policies - technologies that allow sharing and federation of research data, information and tools are rapidly gaining in sophistication and web services are also maturing to enable secure interconnection of data between different data systems and agencies. To aid the development of this “federated” system greater investment in infrastructure and in the development of consistent support activities is seen as being a priority needing greater investment.
  
• Continued funding to fill priority data and information gaps - future applications for funds for these projects will require a persuasive case linked to the important biodiversity management issue/s to justify expenditure.
  
• More proactive emphasis on the coordination of efforts/communication across the sector - this has been a low investment area traditionally for the Programme. Communities of Practice and other methods of promoting better communication across the sector will be encouraged where there is a proven and critical need not funded from current funding regimes.

Process changes have also been introduced that place greater emphasis on user needs assessment for all projects. A differentiation has also been introduced in the application form to be completed for large and small scale projects.

If you wish to discuss a potential application you are welcome to contact Alan White, the Programme Manager on (04) 471 3142 or email tfbis@doc.govt.nz.