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6 Licence Payments</a></li> <li id="menu-item-32099" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-32099"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/tools-and-resources/funding-and-grants/">Funding and grants</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-32089" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-32089"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/tools-and-resources/tools-for-recording-and-mapping/">Tools for recording and mapping</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-32091" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-32091"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/tools-and-resources/tools-for-recording-and-mapping/nbn-toolbox/">For recording</a></li> <li id="menu-item-32090" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-32090"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/tools-and-resources/tools-for-recording-and-mapping/for-mapping/">For mapping</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-32075" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-32075"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/tools-and-resources/other-resources/">Other resources</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-31371" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-31371"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/state-of-nature-reports/">State of Nature Reports</a></li> <li id="menu-item-32076" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-32076"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/national-education-nature-park-and-climate-action-awards/">National Education Nature Park</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-12046" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-12046"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/blogs/">Blogs</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28120" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-28120"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" data-target="#">Join us</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-28125" class="intro menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28125"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/">Join us section</a><span class="description">As a charity, we rely on our members and supporters to fund our work. Join the NBN Trust today, and you’ll be joining a community passionate about helping nature recover. Join us now – and help make data work for nature.</span></li> <li id="menu-item-28130" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-28130"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/">Join us</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-28123" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28123"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/join-the-nbn-trust/">Join the NBN Trust</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28122" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28122"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/why-join/">Why join?</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28121" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28121"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/membership-subscriptions/">Membership subscriptions</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28124" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28124"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/join-us/terms-conditions/">Terms & Conditions</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-28114" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-28114"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" data-target="#">Support us</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-28129" class="intro menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28129"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/">Support us section</a><span class="description">We have only a few years to bring about the changes that are needed to address the global and UK crises. The NBN Trust is committed to helping make this happen. But we don’t work alone. Partnership is central to our mission. Can you help support our work?</span></li> <li id="menu-item-28131" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children dropdown menu-item-28131"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/">Support us</a> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li id="menu-item-28119" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28119"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/corporate-support/">Corporate support</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28118" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28118"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/sponsor/">Sponsor</a></li> <li id="menu-item-89" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-89"><a href="/product/donation/">Donate</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28115" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28115"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/raise-money-while-shopping/">Raise money while shopping</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28117" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28117"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/the-nbn-lottery/">The NBN Trust Lottery</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28116" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28116"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/a-gift-in-your-will/">A gift in your will</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul></div> </div> </nav> </div> <div class="page-title-image" style="background-image:url('https://nbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/AdobeStock_76407147-e1455300613103-1440x454.jpeg')"></div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="container" role="document"> <ol class="row breadcrumb"><li><a href="/">Home</a></li><li><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/">About us</a></li><li><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">What we do</a></li><li class="active">History</li></ol> <div class="content"> <div class="page-header"> <h3>About us</h3> <h1>History</h1> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-9 pull-right"> <main role="main"> <p>Surprisingly, there has never been a statutory requirement for any one organisation to collect biological records on a long-term basis.</p> <p>Despite this a national <a title="Takes you to the BRC website" href="http://www.brc.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biological Records Centre</a> was set up in 1964 to collate data, particularly from voluntary recording schemes, to make information available to conservation bodies and to publish the results. The lack of co-ordinated resources to work with local and national recorders resulted in no one organisation being able to see the whole picture. As pressures to report on the environment increased so did the urgency to improve the situation.</p> <p>The impetus to set up the National Biodiversity Network finally came from the Biodiversity Action Planning process, following the 1992 Rio Summit and a report from the “Coordinating Commission for Biological Recording” which led a number of organisations in the UK to come together in 1997 to pool resources to build the NBN and simplify data exchange in the UK.</p> <h2>The NBN Trust</h2> <p>The National Biodiversity Network Trust was set up as an independent charity in 2000 to oversee and facilitate the development of the Network. The Trust is also supported by a wide range of biodiversity data contributors and users and through a membership scheme. It is governed by a Board of Trustees. When it was established the Board of Trustees was formed from the membership organisations, but this was changed in 2018 to ensure all business competencies were covered. The Board of Trustees from 2018 comprises senior managers who are experts in their field whether this is information management, business development or biological recording.</p> <h2>Founding organisations</h2> <p>Initial hopes that the Millennium Commission would support the NBN Project were not fulfilled, but the principal organisations, voluntary and government-sponsored, formed an informal consortium to carry the work forward. These founding organisations were:</p> <ul> <li>The Joint Nature Conservation Committee</li> <li>English Nature (now Natural England)</li> <li>The Natural History Museum</li> <li>Natural Environment Research Council (through its Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, home of the Biological Records Centre)</li> <li>Royal Society for the Protection of Birds</li> <li>The Wildlife Trusts</li> <li>National Forum for Biological Recording (representing local and voluntary sector recording communities especially)</li> </ul> <p>These were joined by:</p> <ul> <li>Countryside Council for Wales (now Natural Resources Wales)</li> <li>Scottish Natural Heritage (now NatureScot)</li> <li>Environment Agency</li> <li style="text-align: left;">Marine Biological Association</li> </ul> <h2>Initial work</h2> <p>From the outset, it was recognised that for the NBN to succeed there would need to be a raft of specific projects and activities:</p> <ul> <li>A standard data model to underpin the entire system.</li> <li>Data capture and collation software that could meet agreed standards.</li> <li>A common set of data exchange principles accepted by all participants.</li> <li>An internet-based system to allow data to be searched and delivered to users.</li> </ul> <p>For the system to work, it became apparent that other things were needed as well:</p> <ul> <li>Development of standard taxonomic and habitat dictionaries to enable data to be indexed and searched.</li> <li>Guidance and help with issues related to confidentiality, personal or sensitive data and intellectual property rights, so that constraints on data use would be minimised.</li> <li>Help with improving the management of data so they could adopt the necessary formats.</li> <li>Help with understanding how to take part, and resources and encouragement to do so.</li> </ul> <p>The NBN Trust’s approach was to set up a range of projects to take these areas of work forward in parallel, because each tended to be dependent on another:</p> <ul> <li>Production of an NBN Data Model and data exchange system</li> <li>Development of the NBN Gateway and search engine. (This was replaced in April 2017 by the <a title="" href="http://nbnatlas.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBN Atlas</a>)</li> <li>Development of the electronic Species Dictionary and Habitats Dictionary.</li> <li>Production of guidance on practical issues concerning data exchange.</li> <li>Projects to enhance the awareness and capabilities of the main potential suppliers of data, in particular Local Environmental Records Centres and voluntary societies.</li> <li>Projects to look at developing the use of data.</li> </ul> <p>Each of these work areas was developed under the guidance of steering groups representing all the main interested parties, both within the NBN Trust membership and outside, with the whole Project overseen by a full-time Chief Executive (originally Programme Director) and the NBN Trust Board of Trustees. Since its inception, work on individual projects has been taken on by different partners, with the principal functions originally operating via staff funded through Scottish Natural Heritage, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, Biological Records Centre and the NBN Trust.</p> <p><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/history/nbn-timeline/">Find out more about the history of the NBN through the Timeline</a></p> <p> </p> </main> </div> <div class="clearfix visible-xs"></div><div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-3"> <aside role="complementary"> <div class="side-block page-subnav"><h2 class="visible-xs">In this section</h2><ul><li class="page_item page-item-10 current_page_ancestor page_item_has_children"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/" class="h3">About us</a><ul class="children"><li class="page_item page-item-20 current_page_ancestor page_item_has_children page_parent"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">What we do</a><ul class="children"><li class="page_item page-item-34639"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/nbn-trust-videos/">NBN Trust Videos</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-23 page_item_has_children current_page_item"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/history/" aria-current="page">History</a> <ul class='children'> <li class="page_item page-item-23511"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/history/celebrating-20-years-of-the-nbn-trust/">Celebrating 20 years of the NBN Trust</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-7694"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/history/celebrating-15-years-of-the-nbn/">Celebrating 15 years of the NBN Trust</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-315"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/history/nbn-timeline/">NBN Timeline</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="page_item page-item-22 page_item_has_children"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/">Strategy</a> <ul class='children'> <li class="page_item page-item-28175 page_item_has_children"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/strategy-archive/">Strategy archive</a> <ul class='children'> <li class="page_item page-item-28183"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/strategy-archive/nbn-strategy-2015-2020/">NBN Strategy 2015 – 2020</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-22598"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/strategy-archive/nbn-trust-strategy-review-2020/">NBN Trust Strategy Review 2020</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-440 page_item_has_children"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/strategy-archive/nbn-action-plan-2016/">NBN Action Plan 2016</a> <ul class='children'> <li class="page_item page-item-7971"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/strategy/strategy-archive/nbn-action-plan-2016/nbn-working-groups/">NBN Working Groups</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="page_item page-item-21"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/vision/">Vision</a></li> </ul></li></ul></li></ul></div> </aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="content-info" role="contentinfo"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-3 footer-address"> <p>National Biodiversity Network Trust<br /> 27 Old Gloucester Street<br /> Holborn<br /> London<br /> WC1N 3AX</p> <p>T 0115 850 0177<br /> E <a href="mailto:support@nbn.org.uk">support@nbn.org.uk</a></p> </div> <div class="col-md-9"> <div class="menu-footer-primary-navigation-container"><ul id="menu-footer-primary-navigation" class="footer-primary-nav"><li id="menu-item-120" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current-page-ancestor menu-item-has-children menu-item-120"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/" >About us</a> <ul > <li id="menu-item-121" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-121"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/">Who we are</a></li> <li id="menu-item-122" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current-page-ancestor menu-item-122"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">What we do</a></li> <li id="menu-item-10894" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-10894"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/where-we-are/">Where we are</a></li> <li id="menu-item-140" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-140"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/contact-us/">Contact us</a></li> <li id="menu-item-26114" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-26114"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/contact-us/feedback/">Feedback</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-123" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children menu-item-123"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/" >Record, share & explore data</a> <ul > <li id="menu-item-124" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-124"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/record-wildlife-a-fun-way-to-help-nature/">Record wildlife – a fun way to help nature</a></li> <li id="menu-item-125" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-125"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/share-your-data/">Share data</a></li> <li id="menu-item-126" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-126"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/explore-and-use-data/">Explore and use data</a></li> <li id="menu-item-8431" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-8431"><a href="https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/verifying-data/">Verify data</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="menu-item-127" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-has-children menu-item-127"><a 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