Biodiversity Data Repository - a new way to find data in mid-2022

We're improving the way we manage information about Australia’s biodiversity. The new Biodiversity Data Repository will keep better track of the variety of life in Australia.

There's a lot of data about plants, animals, fungi and other organisms. And this data is spread across all levels of government, industry and research institutions. We want to make it easier for people to find all this information by bringing it together in one place.

As a first step, the Western Australian Government is helping us build the pilot Biodiversity Data Repository. Initially, the repository will only use data from Western Australia’s Biodiversity Information Office.

The project is part of the Australian Government's Digital Environmental Assessments Program (DEAP). This initiative will help us improve how we plan and make environmental decisions.

A new online portal for environmental assessments under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is also part of the DEAP initiative.

The Biodiversity Data Repository will:

• make data on living things easier to find, access, share and use
• create a system that will work side-by-side with existing environment information systems
• build capability for state and territory systems to exchange data with each other, as well as with other national systems.

Project timeline

• Discovery with industry and other stakeholders completed in May 2021.
• Co-design completed with the Western Australian Government in November 2021.
• Build to begin in early 2022.
• Pilot repository will be available for public use by June 2022.

To help with integrating data, we're also developing an Australian Biodiversity Information Standard. The standard will be built by Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and Regional Land Partnership (RLP).

This standard will make it easier to use biodiversity data to help with environmental planning and conservation.