Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Information Network (IBIN)

Welcome to the Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Information Network

IBIN is being developed to as a mechanism to help indigenous peoples to communicate and build capacity in implementing Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which states:
(j) Subject to its national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices;
IBIN is currently in a pilot phase, and is being designed to both serve the private internal needs of indigenous groups and to facilitate the sharing information publicly. It will work to foster communications among indigenous groups globally, and to aid indigenous peoples form their own locally appropriate communications plans.
IBIN is not itself a policy-making organization or an information publisher, but will act to aid indigenous organizations and networks form their own information sharing protocols and help make public information on the Convention on Biological Diversity and related processes more accessible to them. IBIN will offer technical assistance in making telecommunications tools and other communication methods accessible to indigenous groups and help build their capacity to use them more effectively.

IBIN Links

The IBIN Links pages attempt to provide high quality links to indigenous and non-indigenous organizations providing information relevant to indigenous capacity building and participation in biodiversity issues. The existence of links do not represent any endorsement by IBIN of the views expressed in the linked resources. IBIN will try to maintain high standards in the links provided, and will develop protocols to try to ensure that the links are to reputable sources and organizations that maintain an ethical relationship to the original holders of information. This is not always transparent, and we welcome cooperation in identifying ways to meet high standards to make IBIN a model system for information sharing.

IBIN Forums

IBIN Forums are web-based conferencing systems to allow users with web-browsers to have on-line disussions on topics related to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is possible to create many Forums, each covering a major theme related to indigenous biodiversity issues. Within each Forum, users may start a discussion on any number of topics, or threads. The forum "Indigenous Knowledge", for example, may be broken down into a large number of topics, such as agricultural knowledge, hunting knowledge, fishing knowledge, and so on. The topics, or threads, are not predefined, but determined by the people who use the system.
Forums are not specified in advance, but are chosen by the indigenous participants in IBIN. If you would like to suggest a forum that does not yet exist, please contact Dave Moore (dmoore@netshop.net)
Some of the IBIN forums are closed, and require permission to participate in them. If there is a forum in which you would like to participate in, but which is closed, you can contact the moderator of the forum to see of you are eligible to join the discussions. Please feel free to join any public discussions. The only requirement we have is that you remain polite and on the topic of the forum. IBIN reserves the right to remove any posts to a forum that are not on-topic.

IBIN Library

IBIN is not primarily an information publisher, but a clearinghouse for information that others produce. The clearinghouse focuses on local storage and management of information, and building that capacity where it does not yet exist. IBIN will, however, be willing to explore the option to store and manage information for groups currently without the resources to do it themselves. IBIN will only be willing to publish information where the source is clearly identified and where it can be verified that the intermediary has the authority to make information publicly available. From time to time, IBIN may also publish documents related to the structure and operation of IBIN itself.

Indigenous Peoples Aquatic Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN)

Search the IBIN Web Site