2013-05-13 — /travelprnews.com/ — The Jersey Biodiversity Centre was officially opened today and will become a key provider of records and other information about Jersey’s natural environment.
Environment Guernsey, the Société Jersiaise and the States of Jersey Department of the Environment have worked together to establish the Jersey Biodiversity Centre (JBC).
For more than two centuries people in Jersey have been gathering detailed records about the Island’s natural history. However, most of these records are inaccessible as they are stored in libraries, personal archives, publications, reports, notebooks, card indexes and other media.
One of the JBC’s main tasks is to find and computerise all Jersey’s natural history records so that these can be used by amateur and professional naturalists, ecologists and other researchers. It is hoped that this will help to highlight knowledge gaps within Jersey’s flora and fauna. It will also show what information Jersey needs to safeguard the Island’s biodiversity in the future.
At an international level Jersey has signed up to several environmental agreements, including the RAMSAR Convention and the Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity, which require access to comprehensive and accurate biological information across a range of species and habitats. The JBC will provide this but it is also expected to play a central role in encouraging wider community involvement and understanding of Jersey’s biodiversity and natural environment.
The Jersey Biodiversity Centre is based at the Société Jersiaise building, 7 Pier Road, and is being managed by the newly appointed Biodiversity Officer, Mr Nick Aubin. The JBC is open on Fridays between 9:30 and 16.30. The Biodiversity Officer welcomes the submission of new and historic records for the fauna and flora found in Jersey and its surrounding seas.