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Monday, March 10, 1997
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9th & Iowa
Museum director leads way by putting biodiversity online
NAFTA funding launches project to create database
By Osvaldo Munoz
Special to the Kansan
When the North American Free Trade Agreement became effective in 1994, its founders had the goal to eliminate barriers to manufacturing and services trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico, but also addressed concerns on the lives of plants and animals.
Leonard Kristhalka, director of the KU Natural History Museum, represented the U.S. Organization for Biodiversity Information to the NAFTA commission because of the museum's initiative to create the organization in 1995.
The museum held a retreat for scientists in September 1995 and planned a National Science Foundation-funded workshop in April 1996 to form the organization.
It was created to carry out a systematic examination of hundred of millions of specimens and to understand how they interact.
Kristalka was chosen last fall as the co-chairman of the Commission on Environmental Cooperation that implemented the NAFTA project.
The demonstration project, discussed in some NAFTA talks in Montreal, consists of an online encyclopedia of the flora and fauna, and the creation of a database for museums and herbariums across North America.
"This electronic encyclopedia will be useful to land planners, scientists, teachers, students, conservationist agencies and cooperative sectors, among others," Kristalka said.
Bradley Kemp, public relations director for the museum, said that the nations involved in NAFTA had provided $100,000 in 1997 to launch the project.
The demonstration project will serve the goals of the U.S. Organization of Biodiversity Information just as it serves the goals of NAFTA. Kemp said.
"It's a great opportunity to leverage available funds to the best possible advantage." Kemp said.
Steve Ashe, curator of ontology at the museum, said that this project would be important because there was no complete locale to assess the
"This electronic encyclopedia will be useful to land planners,scientists teachers, conservationist agencies and cooperative sectors, among
others."
Leonard Kristalka co-chair of the Commission on Environmental Cooperation
Leonard Krishtalka
Commental Cooperation
information that was already in the museums.
However, Ashe recognized the point that it would also be difficult to work with this large database because no organization had created something like this before.
"People will have access to a broader array of information that is currently being collected," Ashe said.
Jama Defever, Independence sophomore majoring in biology, said that although she was not familiar with the use of Internet tools, this project would be useful to anyone concerned about biodiversity.
"Not many people know what is around them even in their own region," she said. "This project would compile a large amount of material that may be hard to find at the present time."
Kemp also said that thanks to Kristhalka's vision for how the natural history collection could be best used in the future, the museum's leadership in this area was a demonstration of the University's excellence in biodiversity research.
"We are lucky to have him at the University. KU is leading the way in this important new field because of Dr. Kristalka," Kemp said.
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