Report on
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AGRIS/CARIS IN THE 21ST CENTURYREPORT ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL CONSULTATION4 - 6 NOVEMBER 1996BOGOR, INDONESIA |
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[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7]
[Appendix 1] |
FORESTRY INFORMATIONIN THE SEAMEO REGIONAL CENTER FOR GRADUATE STUDY AND RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE DATABASESBenefa M. Dayao SEARCA, Laguna, Philippines Forests, like marginal lands, croplands and coastal areas contribute to the life support systems in many developing countries. They are crucial as an important source of economic activities for the local people. Forest resources have contributed immensely to the social, ecological and economic development of many countries. For a while, timber was regarded as the "green gold mine" in Indonesia. However, with the increase in foreign exchange earnings, there came a point where progress itself became a constraint. The continued misuse and abuse of forest resources have led to land degradation and soil erosion. Unabated exploitation and destruction of forests goes on viciously. The resource base will soon be impoverished if no concrete actions are immediately taken. There should be consolidated efforts to respond to this crisis. Yoichi Kuroda, Co-ordinator of the Japan Tropical Forest Action Network explicitly expressed that the "whole economic system must be altered to find a solution to problems such as excessive consumption of tropical timber. There must be a 180 degrees turnaround with respect to our present lifestyles and economic system". He further suggests to discontinue an economy that destroys the livelihoods of people and the global environment. All is not bleak however. In response to the identified environmental problems, the common concern now is to implement an active and vigorous nature conservation programme through information, education, communication and other extension activities. In the latter part of the seventies, SEARCA partly addressed this concern when it participated in the International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology or AGRIS, a project of FAO. SEARCA serves as the South-east Asian regional network centre tasked with co-ordinating the information activities of the AGRIS member countries. Together with AGRIS, FAO also sponsored the CARIS or Current Agricultural Research Information System. This contains a listing of on-going research projects in the South-east Asian region. SEARCA also serves as the CARIS Regional Co-ordinator. Specifically, AGRIS is a co-operative and decentralised information system that collects current information on world agricultural literature through more than 100 participating national and multi-national centres. AGRIS has an information product called AGRINDEX, a monthly publication available both in printed form and as a compact disc. CARIS, on the other hand, is an international co-operative network for the collection, organisation and dissemination of information on current agricultural research. CARIS facilitates the exchange of such information among developing countries and between developing and developed countries. SEARCA, as the regional centre for these two information systems, has developed two regional information by-products, namely: AGRIASIA, a current bibliography of South-east Asian agricultural literature and CARIS-SEA, a listing of on going agricultural projects in South-east Asia. CARIS-SEA has been temporarily shelved pending the re-activation of the network and the establishment of new linkages. ASIAN PACIFIC INFORMATION NETWORK ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS (APINMAP) The renewed interest in the essential and vital qualities of medicinal and aromatic plants prompted UNESCO to establish the Asian Pacific Information Network on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (APINMAP) in 1987. As APINMAP Network Centre, SEARCA is also responsible for consolidating the data collected from all National Nodes (NNs) located in each Network member country, processing and redistributing copies of the merged data to the NNs. SEARCA also advises and arranges training for the NN staff, co-ordinates activities according to the approved work plan of the Network and assists the Philippine-based secretariat in disseminating information on APINMAP activities. APINMAP has developed two databases which are being maintained by SEARCA: the integrated database and the factual database. The APINMAP Integrated Database (IDB) was started in 1987 to establish an inventory of published and unpublished literature produced or available in APINMAP member countries. The literature contained in the IDB may be scientific or an extension type of publication, including literature published outside the South-east Asia region but is primarily about medicinal and aromatic plants growing in the Asia-Pacific region. The IDB also compiles information on research projects, institutions and researchers of medicinal and aromatic plants. It covers subject areas such as agriculture and forestry; plant biology; chemistry and chemistry of natural products; pharmacy; health, and medicine (including veterinary medicine); ethnology; industrial applications; economics; policies and legislation; education, extension and information; and the general aspects about the plants. The IDB provides the following information to its users:
The APINMAP Factual Database (FDB) began in 1989 as a means to update scientists on the latest information about medicinal and aromatic plants. The FDB provides users with data on five major areas of study on plants, namely: botany, chemistry, pharmacy, medicine and marketing. It contains the following data sets:
OTHER SERVICES SEARCA also maintains a library database that is primarily a collection of donated publications in agriculture and allied disciplines. Although the mandate of the library is to provide "access to information" through mechanised means, it keeps all SEARCA publications and those of SEARCA scholars. |