Inbio - Costa Rica
The National Biodiversity Institute (INBio)
of Costa Rica is a private research and biodiversity management
center, established in 1989 to support efforts to gather
knowledge on the country’s biological diversity and
promote its sustainable use. The institute works under the
premise that the best way to conserve biodiversity is to
study it, value it, and utilize the opportunities it offers
to improve the quality of life of human beings.
INBio is a non-governmental, non-profit,
public interest organization of civil society that works
in close collaboration with different government institutions,
universities, the private sector and other public and private
organizations, both within and outside Costa Rica.
INBio’s work focuses on the following
areas of action:
Inventory and Monitoring: This area generates
information on the diversity of species and ecosystems found
in the country. At present, INBio has a collection of more
than 3 million specimens of arthropods, plants, fungi and
mollusks, each one duly identified and catalogued. It also
generates information on the country’s different ecosystems.
Conservation: This area of work utilizes
the information generated and administered by INBio in decision-making
processes related to the protection and sustainable use
of biodiversity, both by the public and the private sectors.
INBio works closely with the National System of Conservation
Areas (SINAC), considering it a strategic partner in the
conservation of the country’s protected areas.
Communications and education: INBio shares
information and knowledge of biodiversity with different
segments of the public, with the aim of creating greater
awareness of the value of biodiversity. Much of this effort
is carried out through INBioparque, a theme park inaugurated
in the year 2000, with the aim of bringing families and
visitors into closer contact with Costa Rica’s natural
resources. In addition, using other modalities, INBio seeks
to strengthen the environmental aspects of the actions and
decisions of the Costa Rican people.
Biodiversity informatics: This area of
work develops and applies computer tools to support the
processes of generation, administration, analysis and dissemination
of information on biodiversity. The information on each
specimen in the biodiversity inventory is entered into a
database called Atta, which the public may access through
INBio’s web site.
Bio-prospecting: This initiative seeks
sustainable uses and the commercial application of biodiversity
resources. INBio has been a pioneer institution in establishing
research agreements to study chemical substances, genes,
etc., present in plants, insects, marine organisms and microorganisms,
which may be utilized by the pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnology,
cosmetics, food and agricultural industries.
Although INBio is a national initiative in terms of its
sphere of action, it has also become part of an international
effort aimed at integrating conservation and development.
The application of scientific knowledge on biodiversity
to economic activities such as ecotourism, medicine and
agriculture, or the development of mechanisms for the charging
and payment of environmental services, exemplify this integration
effort and form part of the activities that attract the
attention of the international community.
