Espadarana prosoblepon Chrysothemis pulchella
Transcription
Espadarana prosoblepon Chrysothemis pulchella
Chrysothemis pulchella Espadarana prosoblepon 1 Studying, saving, using biodiversity The pillars of INBio’s endeavors 2 Biodiversity in Costa Rica Diaethria marchalii 3 Biodiversity The term “biodiversity” refers to all forms of life found on the planet. Biodiversity is a resource with enormous potential as a tool for the sustainable development of a nation. categories, representing 26.2% of the national territory. Ten percent of the land area is in systems for the payment of environmental services to aid their conservation. • Although it has only 51,100 km2 of land surface (0.03% of the world’s land area) and 589,000 km2 of territorial seas, Costa Rica is categorized as one of the 20 most biodiverse countries in the world. • The main drivers of change in national biodiversity for species as well as ecosystems are climate change, loss of habitat or changes in land use, and the unsustainable extraction or overexploitation of natural resources. • Costa Rica stands out in terms of its density of organisms (number of individuals per unit area); to date, no other country is known to have more or even as many species in an area of similar size. Source: Vilma Obando, INBio, 2011, with the assistance of Jesús Ugalde, INBio • Amphibians are the group with the most endangered or threatened species at 45 percent. • The country is “extremely” diverse in forest ecosystem organisms (one of the nine richest countries). • The nation’s conservation effort includes 169 protected wildlands in various management 4 Around 20% of the species expected for Costa Rica are known. Orthoptera Tettigoniidae 5 Pitcairnia heterophylla Costa Rica has a highly diverse array of terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems thanks to its geographic position, enormous climatic and topographical variability, large mountain chains, and the influence of the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. 6 In Costa Rica, forest cover is expanding and it is still the prevailing land use today. Passiflora apetala Background The National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) was founded in 1989. This private organization was established in the public interest because it makes scientific knowledge about the country’s biological diversity available to civil society in order to promote the sustainable use of biodiversity and improve the quality of life of the people. INBio carries out its tasks in close collaboration with governmental entities and the private sector, as well as with universities and scientific institutions, both national and international. 7 Mission, Vision, Values Mission Values To promote greater awareness of the value of biodiversity as a means of ensuring its conservation and improving the quality of life of human beings. Vision INBio will make nature the central axis of the nation’s culture, educational processes and competitive strengths. It will become a hub of scientific development in order to guide the use of Costa Rica’s natural capital, becoming the most prestigious institution in Latin America in its field 8 Commitment Service Transparency Integrity Respect Equity and justice Responsibility Innovation and leadership INBio discovers a new species every 2.5 days on average and these are represented in its taxonomic collections that contain more than 28,000 species for the country, mainly insects (47%) and plants (37%). Approximately 29.9% of all Costa Rican species (ca. 95,000) have been described. 9 10 Work Areas 11 Gerronema strombodes INBio’s inventory of Costa Rican biodiversity includes mainly arthropods, plants and fungi, with 3,627,022 specimens catalogued as of December 2010, most of which are insects (83%). A total of 3321 species new to science have been discovered. 12 Work Areas Science and Technology In the area of science and technology, INBio generates information on Costa Rican biodiversity at the level of species, genes or other components. INBio also studies the genes and molecules of plants, insects, marine organisms and microorganisms, searching for sustainable uses of this biodiversity that might be useful in the pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnological, cosmetic, nutritional or agricultural industries. The work units for arthropods, botany and fungi conduct inventory and monitoring programs and study the natural history of organisms. The collection today contains about four million specimens of 28,000 species found in Costa Rica, many of them new to science. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VIDEO 13 Information and Communication Technologies The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) area creates digital technology and promotes its efficient and innovative use in the generation, integration and dissemination of knowledge about Costa Rica’s biodiversity that is relevant to scientific research, decision making, policy formulation and environmental education. Outstanding applications have been created for inventory and biological monitoring information management and for the development of natural products. Examples include the Atta System for managing information on Costa Rica’s biodiversity, web portals for the integration of information on biodiversity of a country or region, virtual learning communities on biodiversity topics, and ecological and biogeographical analysis systems. 14 Education and Communication The efforts of the Education and Communication area support the varied fields of INBio’s research in order to disseminate the scientific information and knowledge generated in a language that is comprehensible to the general public. It also serves the needs of journalists, academics and opinion shapers seeking information on INBio or biodiversity in Costa Rica. This area also oversees the fulfillment and strengthening of the objectives in INBio’s Educational Strategy through the coordination of educational projects in environmental, scientific and technological subjects aimed at different target publics, including primary and secondary education centers. The unit also offers training on scientific topics about biodiversity, its uses, interpretation and environmental education. This training is tailored to meet the needs of the target public, including natural science professionals, families, schools, high schools, universities, businesses and other private and state institutions. EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION VIDEO 15 Conservation The conservation area incorporates the information that INBio generates into decision-making processes for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity, in the public as well as the private sector. INBio works closely with the National Conservation Area System (SINAC) and is considered a strategic partner for the conservation of the nation’s biodiversity. The geographic information system and remote sensing unit generates information on Costa Rica’s ecosystems for the production of land cover, soil use, ecosystem and other maps. This information has positioned INBio as a contributor of vital information for territorial planning and management with a view toward conserving natural capital. CONSERVATION VIDEO 16 Enterprise Management The enterprise management area is in charge of satisfying the needs of institutions, businesses, the pharmaceutical industry and people (national and international) for the sustainable management of biodiversity in their activities or projects. It has its own platform of investigators and partners as well as proven protocols and methodologies for conducting varied studies on biodiversity and its sustainable use. Through its advisory and training services, bioprospecting endeavors, publishing business and the INBioparque venture, this area of the institution has gained experience in generating knowledge on biodiversity, conservation, protected area management, environmental education, sustainable tourism, bioprospecting, biological inventories, sustainable landscaping, courses and workshops, digital information management for biodiversity, and more. Enterprise Management VIDEO 17 Credits • • • • 18 Texts: Unidad de Comunicación y Educación Design and layout: Leila Calderón Photos: Ángel Solís, Fabio Hidalgo, Milagro Mata Videos: Fabio Hidalgo www.inbio.ac.cr Contact us: [email protected] Phone: (506) 2507-8100 • Fax: (506) 2507-8274 PO Box: 22-3100 Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica Taeniopoda 19
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