WCMC would like to invite all our users to work more closely with us to enable better exchange of information on a global scale.

There has been a growing demand for environmental information in the past few years. At the same time there has been a rapid development in the ways that such information can be quickly and easily delivered via the Internet. Such developments drew attention to the need to review and further improve the way WCMC and its partners delivered information to the growing numbers of clients. The result is an improved WCMC information service. This service will take advantage of the latest web and customer services technologies to provide a more professional look and feel to a high-quality information service.

Data for information products come from a wide and diverse range of sources, including governmental, intergovernmental and NGO networks, published sources, expert advice and our own research. Our policy has been to work closely with, and acknowledge the contributions of, data networks and suppliers in developing new information products. Our new metadatabase will make this process much easier to track, enabling the quicker and easier location of original data sources.

The benefits of working with WCMC are:

• Broader awareness of and access to integrated environmental information, available through an initial single point.
• Information products, tailored to user-specific needs, will be reaching a growing audience of people, and so helping to raise the profile and work of your organisation. On an increasing number of web pages we are providing links to data suppliers sites as the pages are updated.
• The new service allows us all to gain access to a wider profile of clients than might otherwise be possible alone.
  
• Economies of scale allow WCMC to make available web-based and other industrial strength technologies and facilities, such as high-speed Internet connections, to deliver a high quality and easy to use service.
  
• Improving access to datasets using Internet-based technologies such as the Internet Map Server (IMS), allowing you to obtain global and regional datasets and understand better the context of the data contributed by you and other data suppliers.
  
• Transaction costs of obtaining data and information products are significantly improved. Potentially, the IMS allows datasets to be downloaded and distributed using this mechanism through a security-based system.
  
• By using a variety of sources, we hope that with your approval we will be able to maintain, add to and help validate and extend your datasets.
  
• Through the Biodiversity Conservation Information System (BCIS) and other mechanisms we aim to proactively develop and provide more detailed or specialist information, to enhance and extend the quality and integrity of the global and regional dataset available.
  
• Making information available to the developing world in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other conventions.
  
• As part of the service, WCMC is prepared to handle enquiries about your data on your behalf, helping to free up your valuable time.
  
• Our customer service database allows us to track where data from suppliers has gone to and how it is being used. WCMC will endeavour to feed this information back to our data suppliers when available.

If you would like to join us in our work please contact the Information Office who will be pleased to help.

WCMC Information Office
219 Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1223 277314
Fax: +44 (0)1223 277136
email: info@wcmc.org.uk