About Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre

Publisert Sist endret

Bridging the gap between biodiversity science and policy

The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC) was established by a parliamentary resolution and became operational in 2005.
The goal of NBIC is to serve as a national source of information on species and ecosystems in Norway, and to make up-to-date information on biodiversity widely available and easily accessible to the society.
NBIC focuses on knowledge, both by increasing the level of knowledge, and making it available. Our role as a National source for biodiversity knowledge requires a comprehensive interaction with the scientific community, and close cooperation with policymakers, managers and other data users.

A Centre for dissemination of biodiversity knowledge

Information and data on biodiversity are found in natural history museums, research institutions, environmental agencies and NGO’s run by professional and amateur biologists. NBIC works with all these groups to collate and disseminate this material so that it can become available to everyone.

NBIC’s main tasks are to provide:

  • Risk assessments for species and ecosystems
  • Digital tools and services for knowledge on biodiversity
  • New knowledge on species and ecosystems in Norway

Our main deliverables

NBIC has developed a wide range of services and products. The most essential are: 

  • The Norwegian Red Lists – NBIC is in charge of producing both red lists of species and ecosystems in Norway. These risk assessments are periodically revised and provide an important tool for decision makers 
  • Alien species – NBIC provides a national risk assessment on alien and invasive species in Norway. This includes a list of alien species that pose the most severe threats to Norwegian biodiversity. This assessment is also periodically revised. 
  • Species Map Service – Map access to records of species occurrences in Norway
  • Species Observations System – A Citizen science project for recording species on maps into a national and freely accessible database
  • Internet services for species – Information services on species include taxonomy, identification keys, ecological data etc.
  • Ecosystem diversity in Norway - A national typification and description system for ecosystems, habitats and ecological variation for all Norwegian environments. Available on web (in Norwegian only)
  • New knowledge on species in Norway – The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative started in 2009 and focuses on new knowledge of poorly known species groups in Norway

International cooperation

NBIC has a wide range of cooperation with similar organizations in other countries as well as international institutions working to increase and disseminate knowledge on biodiversity. This cooperation contributes to strengthen the exchange of information across national borders. We work among others with the Swedish Species Information Centre (ArtDatabanken), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the EU (EUBON and INSPIRE) and the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). We also contribute to Norway's efforts to establish and operationalize the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).