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Biodiversity Informatics for Social Good

Biodiversity Informatics for Social Good

Bridging Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture with Informatics

01/ Our Work

An Informatics Lens Into The Natural World

Strand Life Sciences pioneers innovative platforms for biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture. Through publicly funded projects and a commitment to open-source technology, we develop collaborative, participatory tools and databases that empower global communities to protect nature and promote sustainable practices. 

Since 2008, Strand’s biodiversity informatics team has built open-source platforms to aggregate, curate, and share biodiversity data. Using our robust Biodiv codebase, we create interactive web applications that support researchers, conservationists, and citizen scientists worldwide.

02/ Our Portals

Biodiversity Portals in India and Around the World

01

India Biodiversity Portal (IBP): A Flagship Initiative

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The India Biodiversity Portal (IBP) was launched in 2008

The India Biodiversity Portal (IBP) is Strand’s cornerstone contribution to biodiversity conservation in India. Endorsed by the National Knowledge Commission and supported by partner institutions, IBP aggregates biodiversity data and provides free, open access to all. Key features include:

02

Species module:

The Species Page is meant to deliver descriptive content on all of India's species and provide a full, structured profile of the species, including taxonomy, common names, multimedia, morphology, habitat, natural history, and applications. Built on the Species Profile Model and Plinian Core standards, the pages offer integrated previews such as distribution maps and characteristic charts. Expert contributors curate the content to ensure its scientific accuracy.

03

Observation module:

The observation module is a citizen science initiative that encourages users to upload species observations, collaboratively identify species, and contribute to understanding biodiversity by crowdsourcing information from scientists, amateurs, and naturalists. Users can upload images, video, or audio of plant or animal species sightings with date, location, and structured categorization. It is crucial to the platform's participatory and crowdsourcing functionalities to gather data on species.

04

Map module:

The Map module provides interactive access to spatial data, such as species distributions and various environmental map layers. Users can overlay multiple layers, browse available maps through intuitive list pages, and perform spatial queries to extract data based on location and layer attributes. The module supports both vector and raster data and allows for data downloads.

05

Document module:

The Document module serves to aggregate published and grey literature on biodiversity related publications. It aggregates PDF documents like journals, reports, and books. It supports uploads, automatic parsing for species names, and categorization with specific themes and locations. Integrated with BibTeX for metadata and compatibility with reference management tools, it allows browsing, filtering by species, location, themes, and tags, and downloads.

02

Global
Biodiversity Portals

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Bhutan
Biodiversity Portal

A comprehensive resource for Bhutan’s biodiversity.- In partnership with the National Biodiversity Centre (NBC), Strand Life Sciences developed the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal (BBP), an official online repository for Bhutan's biodiversity data. It is built on the biodiv open-source biodiversity informatics platform that also powers the India Biodiversity Portal. The portal's objective is to provide comprehensive and updated information to support conservation planning and sustainable use of biodiversity, featuring modules for species pages, observations, maps, documents, and discussions.

See Portal
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02

Madagascar
Protected Areas

The Protected Areas of Madagascar portal is a trilingual website (English, French, and Malagasy) that provides access to information on 98 terrestrial protected areas in Madagascar. It was developed by Strand Life Sciences in collaboration with Association Vahatra and publicly released on December, 2021. The portal's content is based on the book "Les aires protégées terrestres de Madagascar : Leur histoire, description et biote" edited by Steven M. Goodman, Marie Jeanne Raherilalao & Sébastien Wohlhauser. It also features over 9,000 downloadable PDF files, maps, graphics, figures, and faunal lists.

See Portal
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03

WIKTROP

A knowledge portal for tropical weeds in farmlands. WIKTROP is a geographical extension of WIKWIO, a collaborative portal for weeds of tropical and Mediterranean areas around the world. It aims to capitalize, share, and spread knowledge on weeds and weed management as well as help in weed identification.

See Portal
04

MIKOKO Portal

The project Mikoko aims to meet the challenge of managing the Kenyan mangrove ecosystem strategically for climate change adaptation, protection of biodiversity and economic development of the coastal region.

See Portal

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Supported by
Global Conservation
Leaders

Strand’s biodiversity initiatives have been backed by leading organisations, including:

These partnerships, combined with Strand’s dedication to open-source development, ensure our platforms remain cutting-edge and accessible.

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03/ Agriculture Informatics

Empowering Farmers Through Platforms for Sustainable Agriculture

Since 2018, Strand has expanded its expertise to sustainable agriculture, developing platforms to support small-scale farmers. As the technology partner for CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), we contribute to impactful projects under the EU’s Switch Africa Green Program and GCCA+ DeSIRA initiative.

CropCert: A Platform for Coffee Certification and Traceability

In Uganda, Strand is building CropCert, an open-source platform to support triple certification for coffee. This includes a traceability module, to trace coffee from the farm to the markets which is mandated by the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for access to European markets. This initiative aims to add value to small growers’ coffee, enabling better market access and prices.

  • Current Status: In beta testing, accessible at the demo site.
  • Open Source: Microservices available in the CropCert GitHub repository.
  • Future Plans: Scaling up the platform for small coffee growers across East Africa.
04/ Conservation Projects

Community Conserved Areas, Enabling Local Conservation

Strand is the technology partner for a platform documenting Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) across India and South Asia, launched in September 2022. As part of the data platform for the International Consortium for Community Conserved Areas (ICCA), we support global documentation of CCAs under international biodiversity conservation conventions. Key highlights:

  • Purpose: Facilitates documentation and management of community-led conservation efforts.
  • Scope: Covers India, South Asia, and global CCAs.
  • Platform: Visit the CCA Portal.
  • Launch: Watch the official launch on YouTube..
05/ Open Source

Our Commitment to Open Source

Strand’s extensive open-source codebase, refined through more than 15 years of projects, powers scalable platforms for biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. By prioritising open data and collaborative tools, such as our robust Biodiv codebase, we make critical information freely available for researchers, policymakers, and communities worldwide.

Join us in advancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture. Explore our platforms or contribute to our open-source initiatives today!

06/ FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Establishing a portal necessitates the allocation of both development and hardware resources. Portals are typically initiated and deployed as an outcome of a funded project, commonly secured through a grant that provides appropriate budgets for software, hardware, data curation, and outreach. Comprehensive budgetary provisions for long-term sustainability and maintenance are also essential for inclusion.
Yes, the development of custom features can be undertaken to address the specific requirements of individual projects. However, given that the common biodiversity codebase supports five existing portals, meticulous consideration and design are imperative to assess the potential effects on existing workflows and database structures. Furthermore, it is feasible to configure a portal by selectively incorporating or omitting existing modules, as well as by integrating newly developed custom modules.
Yes, the public can contribute observations to these portals. The observation module is designed to encourage citizen science and large-scale participation. Users can upload species observations, which include photographs, location, and notes. They can also help identify and confirm species identification. All contributions are made under Creative Commons licenses, with attribution to the contributor.
The Biodiv codebase, developed by Strand Life Sciences, powers biodiversity informatics platforms like the India Biodiversity Portal, Bhutan Biodiversity Portal, WIKTROP, and others. Below are key publications showcasing their development and impact:
03/ CONNECT

Let's Connect

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