1. A Vision for theA Vision for the
Biodiversity CommonsBiodiversity Commons
May, 2004
IUCN
Tom Moritz

3. IUCNIUCN Mission
To influence, encourage and assist
societies throughout the world to
conserve the integrity of nature and
ensure that any use of natural
resources is equitable and ecologically
sustainable.

4. Strategic decisions about
data, information, knowledge
and technology
must be conscious, explicit and
mission-consistentmission-consistent

5. What is a “Commons” ???
• A limited and conditional zone of fair use (defined
legally, financially, culturally and technically)
• Permits sustainable use of a resource without
jeopardizing original ownership rights
• Protects against unauthorized commercial use
(is compatible with market mechanisms )
• Respects organizational/individual “moral rights”
(i.e. rights of authors)

6. “Philosophical” Context?

7. “The field of knowledge is the common
property of all mankind “
Thomas Jefferson 1807

8. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers.
(emphasis added)
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

9. RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT
AND DEVELOPMENT (1992)
Principle 10
Environmental issues are best handled with participation
of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the
national level, each individual shall have appropriate
access to information concerning the environment that
is held by public authorities, including information on
hazardous materials and activities in their
communities, and the opportunity to participate in
decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and
encourage public awareness and participation by
making information widely available. Effective access
to judicial and administrative proceedings, including
redress and remedy, shall be provided

10.
Convention on Biological Diversity: Article 17
Exchange of Information
1. The Contracting Parties shall facilitate the exchange of
information, from all publicly available sources, relevant to
the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity, taking into account the special needs of
developing countries.
2. Such exchange of information shall include exchange
of results of technical, scientific and socio-economic
research, as well as information on training and
surveying programmes, specialized knowledge,
indigenous and traditional knowledge as such and in
combination with the technologies referred to in
Article 16, paragraph 1. It shall also, where feasible,
include repatriation of information.
http://www.biodiv.org/convention/articles.asp?lg=0&a=cbd-17

11. “The substantive findings of science are a product of social
collaboration and are assigned to the community. They
constitute a common heritage in which the equity of the
individual producer is severely limited…”
“The scientist’s claim to “his” intellectual “property” is limited to
that of recognition and esteem which, if the institution functions
with a modicum of efficiency, is roughly commensurate with the
significance of the increments brought to the common fund of
knowledge.”
Robert K. Merton, “A Note on Science and Democarcy,” Journal of Law and Political Sociology 1 (1942): 121.
The Ethos of Science

12. Science Library in China August, 1986

13. The Library Tradition
• For hundreds of years, libraries have been
the “protected areas” of the knowledge
commons
• The “public library” is a commons or a zone
of “fair use” that makes knowledge freely
and equitably available to all

14. IUCNIUCN Mission
To influence, encourage and assist
societies throughout the world to
conserve the integrity of nature and
ensure that any use of natural
resources is equitable and ecologically
sustainable.

15. Some possible definitions…Some possible definitions…
• “Data”: Observations, descriptions or measurements
recorded and reported in some standard way…
• “Information”: Reasoned associations of data
• “Experience”: Personal or collective recollection and
interpretation of events
• “Expertise”: Individual or collective knowledge that is
considered reliable by virtue of accomplishment
• “Knowledge”: Rational assumptions derived from
information and experience, presumed to be “true”and
“reliable”

16. The Conservation Domain

17. Colin Bibby, 2002
The Knowledge Cycle
in the International Conservation
Community

18. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0674006771/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-4859238-9642354#reader-link

19. “The data or samples are collected and analyzed independentlycollected and analyzed independently,
and the resulting data sets from such studies generally are
heterogeneous and unstandardizedheterogeneous and unstandardized, with few of the individual
data holdings deposited in public data repositories or openly
shared...
“The data exist in various twilight states of accessibilityexist in various twilight states of accessibility…
“The data are thus disaggregated components of an incipientdata are thus disaggregated components of an incipient
network that is only as effective as the individual transactionsnetwork that is only as effective as the individual transactions
that put it togetherthat put it together
The Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain: Proceedings of a
Symposium. Julie M. Esanu and Paul F. Uhlir, Eds. Steering Committee on the Role of Scientific and Technical Data
and Information in the Public Domain Office of International Scientific and Technical Information Programs Board
on International Scientific Organizations Policy and Global Affairs Division, National Research Council of the

20. Conservation data, information, experience and
knowledge
is widely dispersed but vaguely synthesized and weakly
integrated
 Specimen collections
preserved & living (museums,
herbaria, botanical gardens,
zoos, aquaria and culture
collections)
 Derivatives and “virtual”
specimens and samples
 Collateral collections (nests,
etc)
 Genetic sequence data
 Scientific publications &
“gray literature”
 Images of all types / scales
(satellite, photo-trap, electro-
micrographs)
 Observational data of all
types
 Time-based media (film,
video, recorded sounds)
 Bibliographic indices
(e.g. Zoological Record
1864-present) & Authority
Files
 Maps (analog or digital)
 Environmental Data
 Archives and
manuscripts (field and lab
notes)
 Expertise: the experience-
based knowledge of
individuals or cultures

21. View from the north of the Ngoc Linh Mountain Range in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
This image was created by draping a LandSat scene (1998) over a three-dimensional model.
Courtesy AMNH Center for Biodiversity and Conservation

23. Rheinardia ocellata, the Crested Argus. Photographed at night by an
automatic camera-trap in the Ngoc Linh foothills (Quang Nam Province).
Courtesy AMNH Center for Biodiversity and Conservation

24. http://research.amnh.org/biodiversity/center/cbcnews/archive/sprng_sum01/song.html

25. http://birds.cornell.edu/publications/birdscope/Summer2002/ivory_bill_absent.html

26. Source: Voss
& Emmons,
AMNH Bull.
No. 230, 1996
(by permission:
T. Erwin)
Recent site
map from
Peru
depicting
elements of
“collecting
effort”

27. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wildideas/kids/job_ryder.html

28. For Whom???
• Educators / Interpreters
• Environmentalists /
Conservationists
• International
Organizations
• Governmental
Administrators /
Legislators
• Landowners (Ecosystem)
• Commercial Interests
• Journalists
• Indigenous Peoples
• Students
• Scientific Researchers
Local Communities
(Occupants)
• Naturalists / Recreationists
• NGO’s
• Policy Makers
• Subsistence Consumers /
Sustainable Users
• Protected Areas Managers
and Staff (on site)
WORLD-WIDE…

29. Web Training Session in a Russian Zapovednik

31. Finland
“Structure of the World Wide Web in Finland. Circles denote sites and lines denote connecting links.”
Courtesy of Bernardo Hubernman (HP Labs, Palo Alto)
from B. Huberman The Laws of the Web, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2001

33. DIGITAL DIVIDE +

34. Digital Divide?

35. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
A graphic depiction of the digital divide

36. GDP
$0.00
$5,000.00
$10,000.00
$15,000.00
$20,000.00
$25,000.00
$30,000.00
$35,000.00
$40,000.00
Luxembourg
Jersey
FaroeIslands
Kuwait
Chile
Belarus
Bulgaria
Peru
Jordan
Bolivia
Vietnam
Myanmar
BurkinaFaso
Comoros
GDP

37. 0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
5000000
6000000
7000000
8000000
9000000
10000000
Japan
Poland
China
Philippines
Kazakhsta
Mauritius
Morocco
Senegal
Uganda
Honduras
Tunisia
Northern
Banglades
Hosts
Internet Hosts

38. Communication
0
50
100
150
200
250
M
exico
Belize
Guatem
ala
El Salvador
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa
Rica
Panam
a
Rateper1,000people
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
$Dollars
Main telephone lines
Cellular phones
Personal computers
Internet users
Per capita GDP
Source: Human Development Index. UNDP. 1998.

39. Information Gradient
Pakistan:
In the past 50 years…
32 universities and more than 100 colleges,
training institutes and other specialized
institutions of higher education have
been founded
[Syed Haider Abbas Zaidi, “Higher Education Pakistan”
http://www2.unesco.org/wef/f_conf/000000e2.htm ]

40. University of Peshawar Library
Founded in 1951
Librarian Mr. Riaz Ahmad
Total Volumes 150,000
Urdu
English
Other languages
Microfilms 39
Periodicals 200
Audio-Visual section
Manuscripts 800
Other facilities
Address:
1 Administration Block University of Peshawar, Peshawar-25120,
Pakistan
Tel: (+92-91)921-6483
Fax: (+92-91)921-4670
Telex:

41. From: “xxxxxx” <xxxxxx@hotmail.com>
To: library@amnh.org
Subject: RESEARCH PAPERS REQUIRED
Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 09:54:37 +0500
Dear sir,
I am a student of MSC. Veterinary Parasitology ... I need your
help because of that these research papers are not available & I
could not purchase these research papers which are mentioned in
below list with related to some research topics which are below
as
(1) Epidemiological evaluation of cattle lice/buffalo lice(or) Epidemiological studiessurey
cattle lice buffalo lice .
(2) Prevalence of cattle lice on calves (or) Prevalence of sucking & chewing lice on cattle
(3) incidence (or) Prevalence of sucking & chewing lice on cattleI will be thankfull to your
if you will send to me these research papers on my postal address (or) because of that
I can not purchase them.
(4) Taxonomical study of different species of cattle lice. Please send to me these research
papers as early as possible .
Postal address :Dr . xxxxxx House#xx,Street#xx Email address: xxxxx@ hotmail.com

42. RESEARCH PAPERS REQUIRED
1: Colwell DD, Clymer B, Booker CW, Guichon PT, Jim GK,
Schunicht OC, Wildman BK. Prevalence of sucking and
chewing lice on cattle entering feedlots in southern
Alberta.Can Vet J. 2001 Apr;42(4):281-
2: Chalmers K, Charleston WA. “Cattle lice in New Zealand:
observations on the prevalence, distribution and seasonal
patterns of infestation.” N Z Vet J. 1980 Oct;28(10):198-
200.
3: Chalmers K, Charleston WA.”Cattle lice in New Zealand:
observations on the prevalence, distribution and seasonal
patterns of infestation”. N Z Vet J. 1980 Oct;28(10):198-
200.
[SNIP]

43. College of African Wildlife Management
P.O. Box 3031
Moshi
Tanzania
Fax 255 55 51113
Tel 0811 520360
http://www.mweka-wildlife.ac.tz/
.
COLLEGE OF AFRICAN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, MWEKA

44. The Ecology
of the Conservation Commons?

45. August 30, 2002 BiodiversityBiodiversityCommonsCommons // WSSD
Market
Law
Norms
Architecture
(Technology)
Data
Information
Knowledge
“Modalities of Constraint” on Open Access
to Data, Information, Knowledge
Adapted from: Lessig, L. Code and other laws of cyberspace. NY, Basic Books, 1999.

46. OECD Follow Up Group on Issues of Access to Publicly Funded Research Data. Promoting Access
to Public Research Data for Scientific,Economic, and Social Development: Final Report March 2003

47. Financial Constraints on
Biodiversity Information

48. http://www.arl.org/newsltr/218/costimpact.html

49. http://www.arl.org/newsltr/218/costimpact.html

50. Year Number of Titles Average Price Percentage Increase Index
1984 94 78.35 — 100.0
1985 94 90.75 15.8 115.8
1986 94 102.83 13.3 131.2
1987 94 112.91 9.8 144.1
1988 94 127.33 12.8 162.5
1989 94 142.14 11.6 181.4
1990 94 153.78 8.2 196.3
1991 94 172.56 12.2 220.2
1992 94 197.89 14.7 252.6
1993 94 219.58 11.0 280.3
1994 94 243.38 10.8 310.6
1995 94 266.72 9.6 340.4
1996 94 299.84 12.4 382.7
1997 94 338.31 12.8 431.8
1998 94 385.40 13.9 491.9
1999 94 433.79 12.6 553.7
2000 94 470.43 8.4 600.4
2001 94 510.53 8.5 651.6
2002 94 543.96 6.5 694.3
U.S. Periodical Prices—2002
TABLE VII: Zoology
(1 title dropped; 1 title added)
(52% of the titles increased in price)
http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Products_and_Publications/Periodicals/American_Libraries/Selected_articles/7zoology.htm

51. Julian Birkinshaw and Tony Sheehan, “Managing the Knowledge Life Cycle,”
MIT Sloan Management Review, 44 (2) Fall, 2002: 77.
???
Is conservation knowledge a “commodity” ???

52. Legal Constraints
on
Biodiversity Information

53. Dr. Donat Agosti, SSC Social Insects Specialist Group
Figure 1. Access to ant systematics information. Each icon represents one
of the 424 new ant species described in the year 2003. The species are
alphabetically listed (data from http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu:210/hymen
optera/manage_lit.new_taxa_by_year?tnuid=152&the_year=2003 or http//:antbase.org)

54. Zoo Record Citations by Publisher Type
(1978-2002)
Association
58%
University
6%
Commercial
17%
Other
0%
NH
Institutions/
Non-profit
9%
Government
10%
Association
University
Commercial
Government
NH Institutions/Non-
profit
Other
Analysis by BIOSIS and AMNH (currently unpublished)
Ownership of publications?

55. Solutions?

56. Provision of free, universal access to conservation
knowledge, information and data is a practical
imperative for the international conservation
community – this goal should be accomplished:
by promotion of the Public Domain
and
by development of a sustainable Biodiversity
Knowledge Commons
adapting emergent legal and technical
mechanisms to provide a free, secure and
persistent environment for access to and use of
conservation knowledge, information and data.

57. November 11, 2002 BiodiversityBiodiversityCommons /Commons / World
Heritage
A definition of the “Public Domain”
“The public domain is a range of uses of information that
any person is privileged to make absent individualized
facts that make a particular use by a particular person
unprivileged.”
Yochai Benkler, “Free as the air to common use: First Amendment constraints
on enclosure of the Pulic Domain,” NYU Law Review Vol. 74 (May,
1999):362.

58. A sketch of the public domain and adjacent terrain…

59. What is a “Commons” ???
• A commons is a limited and conditional zone of fair use
(defined both legally and technically)
• A commons permits sustainable use of a resource without
jeopardizing original ownership rights
• Supports control of patrimonial / property rights required
by owners as required by owners (for example: indigenous
peoples, national governments); protects against
unauthorized commercial use
• BUT also does permit authorized commercial uses (i.e. is
compatible with market mechanisms )
• protects organizational/individual “moral rights” (i.e.
rights of authors)

60. Digital Commons?
Digital resources as “public goods” are:
• non-rivalrous (near-zero cost for additional increments
of use)
• non-excludable (i.e.of potentially universal benefit)
• universally accessible (potentially)
(But economic inequities and newly emergent legal/technical
barriers may deny these benefits)
Reichman, Jerome H. and Paul F. Uhlir, Promoting Public Good Uses of Scientific Data: A
Contractually Reconstructed Commons for Science and Innovation.
http://www.law.duke.edu/pd/papers/ReichmanandUhlir.pdf

62. THE ROLE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DATA AND INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN PROCEEDINGS OF A
SYMPOSIUM Julie M. Esanu and Paul F. Uhlir, Editors Steering Committee on the Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information
in the Public Domain Office of International Scientific and Technical Information Programs Board on International Scientific
Organizations Policy and Global Affairs Division, National Research Council of the National Academies, p. 5
The Commons
The Public Domain

63. Recent Progress

64. Biodiversity Informatics Infrastructure:Biodiversity Informatics Infrastructure:
An Information Commons for the Biodiversity CommunityAn Information Commons for the Biodiversity Community
Gladys A. Cotter and Barbara T. Bauldock
U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey
300 National Center 300 National Center
Reston, VA 20192 Reston, VA 20192
USA USA
gladys_cotter@usgs.gov barbara_bauldock@usgs.gov
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of efforts to create an informatics infrastructure for the
biodiversity community. A vast amount of biodiversity information exists, but no comprehensive
infrastructure is in place to provide easy assess and effective use of this information. The
advent of modern information technologies provides a foundation for a remedy. Biodiversity
informatics infrastructures are being called for at national, regional, and global levels, and plans
are in place to coordinate these efforts to ensure interoperability. The paper reviews some essential
requirements and some challenges related to building this infrastructure.
Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Very
Large Databases, Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 10-14, 2000

65. Biodiversity Conservation
Information System
• BirdLife International
• Botanic Gardens
Conservation
International
• Conservation
International
• International Species
Information System
• IUCN Commission on
Ecosystem
Management
• IUCN Environmental
Law Programme
• IUCN Species Survival
Commission
• IUCN World
Commission on
Protected Areas
• The Nature
Conservancy
• TRAFFIC International
• Wetlands International
• World Conservation
Monitoring Centre
Members
BCIS
Information
Overview
BCIS Center
MembersMembers

66. D-Lib Magazine
June 2002
Volume 8 Number 6
ISSN 1082-9873
Building the Biodiversity Commons
(This Opinion piece presents the opinions of the author. It does not necessarily reflect the views of D-Lib
Magazine, its publisher, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, or its sponsor.)
Provision of free, universal access to biodiversity information is a practical imperative for the
international conservation community — this goal should be accomplished by promotion of
the Public Domain and by development of a sustainable Biodiversity Information Commons
adapting emergent legal and technical mechanisms to provide a free, secure and persistent
environment for access to and use of biodiversity information and data.
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june02/moritz/06moritz.html
Thomas Moritz
American Museum of Natural History
tmoritz@amnh.org

68. “Common Knowledge”
Creating the Biodiversity Knowledge Commons
Business plan and implementation strategy
A proposal developed with contributions from
American Museum of Natural History
Biodiversity Conservation Information System
BirdLife International
Conservation International
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Inter American Biodiversity Information Network
IUCN Environmental Law Commission
IUCN Species Survival Commission
IUCN The World Conservation Union
IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
NatureServe
North American Biodiversity Information Network
Rio Tinto
Society for Conservation Biology
The Nature Conservancy
TRAFFIC International
UNEP- World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Wildlife Conservation Society

69. Current Contributors to the CommonsCommons Design
American Museum of Natural
History (AMNH)
Biodiversity Conservation
Information System (BCIS)
BirdLife International (BI)
Conservation International (CI)
Global Biodiversity Information
Facility (GBIF)
Inter-American Biodiversity
Information Network (IABIN)
IUCN Environmental Law
Commission (ELC)
IUCN Species Survival
Commission (SSC)
IUCN Information Management
Group IMG)
IUCN World Commission on
Protected Areas (WCPA)
NatureServe
North American Biodiversity
Information Network
(NABIN)
Rio Tinto
Society for Conservation Biology
The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
TRAFFIC International
UNEP- World Conservation
Monitoring Centre (UNEP-
WCMC)
Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS)

70. The Biodiversity
Commons:
Digital Futures / IUCN
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Johannesburg , South Africa
data information knowledgedata information knowledge

74. PublisherPublisherManuscript
An Open Access Model
Result:
$$$
Author pays small amount of money
or an institution pays on author’s behalf
From BioMed Central
Free Access on the Web

75. Species Information Service

76. Ecosystems, Protected Areas and PeopleEcosystems, Protected Areas and People
(EPP)(EPP)
&&
The Protected Areas Learning NetworkThe Protected Areas Learning Network
(PALNet)(PALNet)
url: http://www.parksnet.org

77. World Database on Protected Areas 2003
The WDPA Consortium

78. The American Museum of
Natural History has
published 240,000+ pages
of scientific literature.
We expect this entire
corpus of literature to be
digitized and available by
mid-2004.

81. You're probably familiar with the phrase, "All rights reserved," and the little (c)
that goes along with it. Creative Commons wants to help copyright holders
send a different message: "Some rights reserved."
For example, if you don't mind people copying and distributing your online image
so long as they give you credit, we'll have a license that helps you say so. If
you want people to copy your band's MP3 but don't want them to profit off it
without your permission, use one of our licenses to express that preference.
Our licensing tools will even help you mix and match such preferences from a
menu of options:
Attribution. Permit others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
and derivative works based upon it only if they give you credit.
Noncommercial. Permit others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the
work and derivative works based upon it only for noncommercial purposes.
No Derivative Works. Permit others to copy, distribute, display and perform
only verbatim copies of the work, not derivative works based upon it.
Copyleft. Permit others to distribute derivative works only under a license
identical to the license that governs your work.
Creative commons: Licensing Options
http://www.creativecommons.org/

82. Technology / Architecture:
Synthesis? Integration? Interoperability?

83. “Synthesis”? / “Integration”?
““Synthesis”Synthesis” :
The analytical, logical effort to compile complete, integral
information sets by well-defined, rigorous inference.
““Integration”Integration” :
The design and implementation of technology for the digital capture,
and coherent linking of data, information and/or knowledge

84. “a full spectrum of views on interoperability…”
• the use of common tools and interfaces that provide a
superficial uniformity for navigation and access but rely
almost entirely on human intelligence to provide any
coherence of content
• primarily syntactic interoperability (the interchange of
metadata and the use of digital object transmission
protocols and formats based on this metadata rather than
simply common navigation, query, and viewing interfaces)
as a means of providing limited coherence of content,
supplemented by human interpretation.
• deep semantic interoperability
Interoperability, Scaling, and the Digital Libraries Research Agenda: A Report on the May 18-
19, 1995
IITA Digital Libraries Workshop August 22, 1995 Clifford Lynch ( clifford.lynch@ucop.edu)

85. Toward a possible “ontology” of conservation information?
“Ontology”? :
“A formal explicit specification of a shared
conceptualization”
(T.A. Gruber. A translation approach to portable ontologies, Knowledge 7.)

87. “Darwin Core” – Access Points
1. ScientificName
2. Kingdom
3. Phylum
4. Class
5. Order
6. Family
7. Genus
8. Species
9. Subspecies
10. InstitutionCode
11. CollectionCode
12. CatalogNumber
13. Collector
14. Year
15. Month
16. Day
17. Country
18. State/Province
19. County
20. Locality
21. Longitude
22. Latitude
23. BoundingBox
24. Julian Day
Dave Vieglais Species Analyst 4/20/2000
http://habanero.nhm.ukans.edu/presentations/Gainesville_May2000_files/v3_document.htm
Name
Person
Date
Place
Address
DiGIR and the Darwin Core

88. Knowledge Flows:
“Leaking”? or “Conscious Sharing”?
• Subcontracting
• Joint ventures
• Cross licensing
• Portfolio Sharing
• Collaborative Research Grants
• Universities (as vectors)
• PUBLIC DOMAINPUBLIC DOMAIN // COMMONSCOMMONS
• OPEN SOURCEOPEN SOURCE

89. SO, What is to be done?
Conservation organizations are asked:
to subscribe to Global Commons Principles.
Specifically:
– To commit to individual / organizational knowledge assets
(analog and digital) to free, secure and persistently available
use for non-commercial (research, education, applied
conservation ) uses (provided guarantees of organizational
and individual “moral rights”).
– To make implementation of the Commons an organizational
priority and commit significant institutional resources to
Commons development.
– To display the Commons logo as a part of organizational
displays (digital or analog).

91. biodiversitycommons
biocommons

97. "...organic processes have an historical
contingency that prevents universal
explanation."
Richard Lewontin in The Triple Helix