Laihonen, PasiSalo, JukkaKalliola, RistoPillmann, WernerTochtermann, Klaus2019-09-162019-09-162002https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/26942Biodiversity information is among the most interesting items within the domain of environmental informatics. As the ownership of biodiversity resources is a matter of substantial economic expectations, a number of international biodiversity information initiatives have emerged. Premises and perspectives of two major initiatives are reviewed in our paper. The global biodiversity Clearing-house Mechanism established by the Convention on Biological Diversity focuses on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, whereas the Global Biodiversity Information Facility emphasises economic growth and social outcomes. The Clearing-house Mechanism has progressed slowly, as only 50 out of 181 parties of the Convention have national web sites on the Internet. National biodiversity reporting of the parties is also inadequate. Cooperation and division of labour is seen as a vital necessity for both initiatives. The Clearing-house Mechanism has good facilities to focus on commanding the entire information process, while the Global Biodiversity Information Facility has the best prospects in biodiversity data processing.Text/Conference Paper