Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network

Governance

IABIN is a network in which the countries of the Americas as well as diverse governmental and civil society organizations participate. The highest governing body of the network is the IABIN Council, which meets about every year. Each participating country can send a representative, their “Focal Point”, to the Council, which defines the strategies and policies of the network. In practice, decisions are made by consensus and include a strong participation of non-governmental actors such as major non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

At present, 34 countries have designated IABIN Focal Points. Most countries have designated their Clearing House Mechanism National Focal Point as their IABIN Focal Point as well. The Focal Points in each country are responsible for both representing their country’s views in the adoption of IABIN decisions and policies and then promoting them in their country.

Between Council meetings, in order to guide effectively the operations of IABIN, a smaller governance body has been created. The IABIN Executive Committee (IEC) comprises representatives of eight countries and two international governmental organization or non-governmental organization (IGO/NGO) members, currently GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and TNC (The Nature Conservancy). The IEC members are elected for fixed terms at each Council meeting. The current members of the IEC are: