Biodiversity data at your fingertips: The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System

Abstract

The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) is a powerful, open-access platform for hosting, sharing, and analysing freshwater biodiversity data for South Africa.Platform design and functionality were strongly informed by the requirements of key data end-users and decision-makers.The platform has over 790 000 occurrence records, which are freely available to data-users and are now being converted into impact through incorporation in national decision-support tools.With better data comes better decisions, and access to a data repository like FBIS means that the monitoring, management and conservation of our freshwater ecosystems can be improved, for the long-term betterment of both people and biodiversity.