The Specimen and Species Thematic Network (SSTN), is an electronic and institutional network whose main goal is to facilitate the digitization, integration and delivery of digital data about specimens and species from the Americas . The SSTN is one of six thematic networks of IABIN .

In order to achieve its main goal, the SSTN develops software tools in coordination with other national, regional and world wide initiatives, it facilitates training proceses that leas to the adoption of these toolsm and promotes its use by scientists, institutions, other networks and the general public.

IABIN was officially mandated at the Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development, convened by the Organization of American States in Santa Cruz de la Sierra , Bolivia , in December 1996. However, it was not until 2005 that funding was available to implement the si thematic networks that would lead to the implementation of IABIN. The Global Environmental Fund has provided this funding and OAS is the Executing Agency of this project.

In 2005, after a public bidding process, INBio was selected as the C.I. (Coordinating Institution) of the SSTN. INBio and four other organizations constituted a consortium that is in charge of the SSTN.

The SSTN started its implementation in January 2006. This first year of work was devoted to planning, analyzing and designing the required software tools. In 2007, we expect to have the first versions of the definitive software tools freely available for public use and data being served in this portal.

The following actors make it posible for the SSTN to achieve its goals:

•  The Coordinating Institution (C.I.): INBio .

•  Consortium members: NatureServe , Red de Herbarios de Centroamérica y el Caribe, Instituto Alexander von Humboldt , Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales .

•  Users and data providers

•  The Technical Advissory Group:

•  I.E.C. (IABIN Executive Committee)

•  IABIN Secretariat

•  IABIN focal points

As the following figure illustrates it, these actors interact at the technical, administrative, and political level.

At the technical level, the C.I. and the Secretariat continuously coordinate the execution of activities established in the work plan. Besides, consortium members provide data and advice. Finally, the Technical Advisory Group gives advice through a web-based collaborative work approach.

At the administrative level, the C.I., Secretariat, and O.A.S. coordinate operative aspects such as procurement and progress reports, among others. Besides, I.E.C. collaborates in making administrative decisions and represents the IABIN Council, which is the highest authority of IABIN.

Finally, political level coordination is conducted by the C.I., Secretariat, and I.E.C., and, at the national level, by national focal points.

The “Work Plan 2006” document contains details about goals, products, activities, time line and methodology for the SSTN.

Roughly speaking, 2006 has been a planning, analysis, and design year. In 2007 we expect to release version 1.0 of two software tools and serve the first data sets, both at the species and specimen level, in this very portal. From 2008 on, we expect to considerably increase the quality and quantity of data available on this portal and new versions of the software tools.

We invite you to participate as users and data providers of the SSTN. If you would like to have your institution's data integrated to the SSTN distributed database, please contact Dr. Erick Mata, emata@inbio.ac.cr or Mrs. Rita Besana, rbesana@iabin.net .

Technical Proposal

Memorandum of cooperation

Transfer Agreement

Progress Reports:

• January - March 2006
• April - June 2006 | Annex 1 | Annex 3 | Annex 4
• July - December 2006 | Executive Summary
• January - March 2007

Work plan:

• 2006
• 2007

Erick Mata
SSTN coordinator
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Costa Rica
E-mail: emata@inbio.ac.cr
Tel. (506) 507 8166