Purpose
We are improving the way we manage information about Australia’s biodiversity. The new Biodiversity Data Repository will help us keep better track of the variety of plant and animal life in Australia.
Across Australia there is a lot of data about plants, animals, fungi and other organisms. This data is spread across all levels of government, industry and research institutions.
Our repository will bring together all this data to support better government planning, decision-making and reporting. It will use knowledge graph technology to store information about Australia’s biodiversity. Learn more about knowledge graphs.
Timely access to biodiversity data is critical for successful delivery of our Nature Positive agenda.
Benefits
The Biodiversity Data Repository will:
- make data on living things in Australia easier to find, access, share and use
- improve the currency and accuracy of biodiversity information
- create a system that will work side-by-side with existing environment information systems
- build capability for other systems to share data with the repository.
This will support our planning, decision-making and reporting. The repository will improve the management and conservation of Australia’s biodiversity.
Project partners
To help combine data from different sources, we've developed an Australian Biodiversity Information Standard.
The Standard was built by Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and the department’s Regional Land Partnership (RLP) program.
It is now maintained and governed by a working group of the Australian Biodiversity Information Governance Group.
This Standard can capture richer and more detailed information than any previous Standard. This will make it easier to share biodiversity data to help with environmental planning and conservation.
We have also developed a suite of ecological monitoring protocols and data collection tools. The protocols are called the Ecological Monitoring System Australia. This will enable standardised and repeatable data collection, meaning we can reliably measure environmental changes.
We worked with the Western Australian Government to build a pilot system. This aimed to gather information about how the repository could integrate with state and territory systems. We exchanged data between Western Australia’s biodiversity data platform and our systems. This provided important information for the build of the national Biodiversity Data Repository.
We are now partnering with all Australian states and territories, and with other data providers, to connect data throughout Australia through the Biodiversity Data Repository.
Next steps
The Biodiversity Data Repository is currently being loaded with occurrence and systematic survey data. Design of applications that will provide access to the BDR is underway.
We are also continuing to partner with organisations to share data and develop systems integration. If you or your organisation holds biodiversity data and would like to contribute it to the repository, we’d love to hear from you.
We need your support to help inform evidence-based decisions to benefit Australia’s environment, people, and the economy.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about the project or want to find out more, contact us at bdr@dcceew.gov.au