VIDEO: LIFE EL-BIOS – National Information System for the Biodiversity of Greece

The first National Information System for the Biodiversity of Greece, has been developed within the framework of the LIFE EL-BIOS project, and is now available to the competent authorities and agencies of the country, to the scientific community, and to the public.

The Information System gathers biodiversity information and data from numerous sources and providers, and disseminates and presents this information about the country’s biodiversity, in a clear and accessible manner.

The main objective of the Information System is to support the competent national authorities and agencies in monitoring Greece’s biodiversity and assessing its status, in prioritizing restoration measures, and in formulating national strategies and policies.

Relevant stakeholders, can search for information through catalogues of species, habitat types, and protected areas, based on the source of the data as well as the data characteristics, such as: the taxonomic group, the habitat type, the status, and the protection category.

Users can also search, via an interactive map, for geospatial data on:

• species,
• habitat types,
• protected areas,
• ecosystems and ecosystem services,
• pressures and threats,
• land use and land cover.

The Information System includes biodiversity and policy indicators for the following focus areas:

• biodiversity state,
• pressures and impacts,
• protection measures.

In addition, users can explore the pressures and threats to biodiversity at national, European, and global levels, through:

• catalogues of pressures and threats to habitat types and species of EU interest,
• catalogues of invasive species &
• catalogues of threatened species, habitat types, and ecosystems.

The system also provides information on the Protected Areas of Greece.

Finally, the Information System provides users with:

• a metadata catalogue for all the geospatial data in the Information System – LIFE EL-BIOS GEOPORTAL,
• a catalogue of biodiversity metadata – GBIF, and
• an Earth Observation Data Cube, developed within the framework of the LIFE EL-BIOS project, which offers Earth Observation biodiversity indicators for assessing the condition of the country’s natural ecosystems.

The LIFE EL-BIOS project, coordinated by the Green Fund, led to the development of Greece’s National Biodiversity Information System.

Upon its completion, the Information System came under the management of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency of Greece (NECCA) and it is available at: biodiversity.necca.gov.gr