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Launching the Institute

May 11, 2007

Over the past number of months, the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Program has been busy finalizing our Prototype Phase while preparing for the launch of our Operational Phase. We would like to take this opportunity to update you on some of our recent activities.

New Name and Web Address
The ABMP has incorporated as a not-for-profit society and changed our name to the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI). Accordingly, we have updated our website address to www.abmi.ca. There are a number of new reports available on our website including:
 
Concluding the Proof-of-concept Prototype Phase (2003-2006)
When the ABMI started the Prototype Phase it was a “great idea”. With the support of 26 committed partners, the program has emerged from the prototype as a world-class initiative that is leading in 4 areas of biodiversity monitoring:
  • The cooperative, multi-sectoral approach used to develop the ABMI is unparalleled in the field of biodiversity monitoring,
  • The breadth of indicators and the scientific rigour behind the institute is second-to-none,
  • The ABMI is leading in the development of tools to communicate the state of biodiversity to decision-makers, and
  • The institute has an excellent relationship with existing and emerging resource management systems.
 
ABMI’s Operational Phase - Looking Forward
Following the model used during the Prototype Phase, the Operational Phase of the ABMI (2007 onward) is being jointly delivered by the ABMI, the Alberta Research Council and the University of Alberta. The Royal Alberta Museum and the Alberta Conservation Association also play key roles in the delivery of the institutes business activities.
 
The ABMI is now functionally organized into four business units:
  1. The Executive Office is responsible for maintaining program profile and managerial effectiveness;
  2. The Science Centre is responsible for maintaining and continuously improving scientific excellence;
  3. The Monitoring Centre is responsible for the data collection and specimen identification from across the province; and
  4. The Information Centre is responsible for facilitating client and public access to the knowledge generated by the ABMI.
With 90 sites being sampled in 2007, initiation of the Operational Phase has been quite successful. We will continue to ramp-up to full capacity (>300 sites sampled annually) over the next few years. Additionally, the ABMI looks forward significant progress in our long-term funding model, biodiversity index and website in the immediate future.
 
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For more information contact:
 
The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9
Telephone: (780) 492-5766
email: abmiinfo<at>ualberta.ca
website: http://www.abmi.ca