Management of Natural Resource Information for the Virgin Islands National Park and Biosphere Reserve

摘要

The study provides an overview of how natural resource/environmental information is generated, filed, exchanged and utilized by those institutions and researchers linked to the Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve (VIBR) through the Virgin Islands Resource Management Cooperative (VIRMC). Scientists and managers expressed a need for improved access to information and identified a number of issues which impede the use of information, especially for land and coastal use management purposes, under current circumstances. The study concludes the VIBR should: establish a standard geographic reference system to be applied to all information gathered from the Biosphere Reserve; require all source data from monitoring or research to be recorded in a common database format; establish a long-term program leading to the implementation of a GIS for the Reserve; and support the establishment of a semi-autonomous Clearinghouse to collect and disseminate natural resource data and information pertinent to research and management of the Biosphere Reserve.