The Thailand Biodiversity Information Facility (TH-BIF) is preparing to play an enhanced role in knowledge sharing under an agreement that will strengthen its database.
The new direction is outlined in a memorandum of understanding signed recently between the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep).
Under the agreement, the TISTR would share its database with the TH-BIF for the benefit of knowledge sharing, research and development and business use, said Chutima Eamchotchawalit, the TISTR governor.
The TISTR data includes the microorganism database of its Culture Collection, also known as the Bangkok Molecular Imaging Research Center (MIRCen). It collects, preserves and distributes microorganisms from over 5,000 strains of bacteria, yeasts, fungi and microalgae for the use of biotechnology development, agriculture and the environment, and industrial applications.
The TISTR also has tropical environmental data. The database is overseen by the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station in Pak Thong Chai district of Nakhon Ratchasima. Covering 78 square kilometres, the station was registered as a biosphere reserve under Unesco’s Man and Biosphere Programme in 1976.
Thailand’s first biosphere reserve has also been instrumental in developing policies for natural resource conservation, ecology and ecotourism laboratories, and knowledge and technology transfers to local communities.
The aim of the TH-BIF is to have a national data warehouse and data mining system for the storage of plants, animals, microorganisms, invasive species, the status of threatened species in Thailand, ecosystems and spatial data.