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TheGlobal Forest Information Service (GFIS) was an initiative of theCollaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) and was a collaborative effort of 14 majorforest-related international organizations, institutions and convention secretariat, aiming to maximize the value of all forest information resources and providers worldwide through the sharing of forest-related information through a single gateway. The effort was discontinued in 2021.
In the global policy context, the vision and mission of GFIS are consistent with the resolutions of theUnited Nations Forum on Forests[1] (UNFF) and the priorities of the CPF. GFIS was led by theInternational Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO); together with FAO, theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; theCenter for International Forestry Research (CIFOR);[2] the UNFF Secretariat; and the Biological Informatics Office of theUnited States Geological Survey (USGS/BIO).[3]
In 1998, the International Consultation on Research and Information Systems in Forestry which was held inGmunden,Austria, recommended that the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) should endorse and promote the development of a Global Forest Information Service to enhance access to all forest-related information, ensuring that it is accessible to all stakeholders including policy-makers, forest managers, non-governmental organizations, community groups and the public at large.[4]
Consequently, the IFF requested Inter-agency Task Force on Forests member organizations to work withInternational Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) in exploring possibilities for a global forest information service. In implementing this request, IUFRO initiated various activities to establish GFIS. These included the establishment of a GFIS Task Force, the development of a GFIS information server and web-interface as well as the implementation of the "GFIS Africa" project to strengthen institutional capacities in developing countries.
The first version of GFIS was presented at the IUFRO European Conference inCopenhagen, Denmark, in August 2002 and successfully demonstrated at the XIIWorld Forestry Congress inQuebec, Canada, in September 2003. It included contributions from over 60 forestry institutions from all regions of the world.
In May 2004, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) agreed that GFIS should become a joint initiative. In response, IUFRO, theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, theCenter for International Forestry Research and theUnited Nations Forum on Forests laid the ground work for further development of GFIS as a joint CPF initiative which was approved September 2004 at the 13th Meeting of the CPF in New York.
In August 2005, the new GFIS search service was launched the XXII IUFRO World Congress held inBrisbane, Australia. The GFIS gateway catalogued key information resources, such as news, events, publications and job vacancies supplied by information providers. Since 2007, there have been continual technological advances to GFIS carried out byFinnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) which features improved search tool and windows to the news, events, publications, forest-related jobs & educational resources.
Since 2007 there have been continual technological advances to GFIS carried out byFinnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) which features improved search tool and windows to the news, events, publications and job opportunities, and educational resources.[5]
In 2021 IUFRO decided not to continue GFIS as a separate entity and instead focus on creating its own online information resources centre, so the www.gfis.net website was taken down. They have created a webpage describing the history of the effort.[6]
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