The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and Red Eléctrica de España have presented today the excellent results of the BIODIBAL digital platform, dedicated to the biodiversity of the Balearics, which has accumulated over a million observations collected from different databases and citizen participation since 2017. The platform has been supplemented by the launch of the new mobile application associated with this project, focusing on its use for science research, education and tourism in relation with the natural heritage of the Balearic Islands.

The presentation took place following the signing of a new framework agreement between the UIB and Red Eléctrica that renews the one signed in 2015 for four more years, plus a second specific agreement to promote the BIODIBAL platform, extending that which was signed in 2017. The chancellor of the UIB, Llorenç Huguet, and the regional delegate of Red Eléctrica in the Balearics, Eduardo Maynau, signed both agreements in an act attended by the vice-chancellor for Innovation and Institutional Relations, Jordi Llabrés and the director of BIODIBAL and researcher for the Interdisciplinary Ecology Group of the UIB, Samuel Pinya, along with the project team.

The BIODIBAL portal and application are part of an innovative project with a broad reach, offering unrestricted free access to biodiversity data of the Balearic Islands through the unification of all the sources of information on this subject, public and private. It also offers connection with other biodiversity databases around the world through the main collective platform, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBiF). BIODIBAL is that largest existing online biodiversity database for the Balearic Islands.

Research and tourism

BIODIBAL has a scientific function in collecting and organizing all academic and scientific knowledge about biodiversity in the Balearic Islands. It also has benefits for the general public and tourism, since it makes all its information available to users about the existing species, walking routes in the nature reserves and other facilities for visitors. It has the backing of the Tourism Strategy Agency of the Balearic Islands (AETIB) and with the various adhesion agreements with different municipalities in the Islands to its enhancement from the point of view of biodiversity.

Popular science

The major contribution of BIODIBAL is to be an instrument for popular participation and science. The platform currently hosts 901,372 observations of 10,399 species which have been registered in the Balearic Islands. The new observations added through the participation mechanisms included in the project are submitted to a validation process by the UIB researchers and other scientific and naturalist entities. Some of these observations are new input for the Balearic Islands which have served as support for the research and the publication of over a dozen scientific articles.

Education

BIODIBAL also fulfils an educational purpose by offering original material for different levels, which shall now be supplemented, after a round of contacts with schools and teaching staff, with others adapted to the specific needs of the educational community.

Mobile application

The extension of the BIODIBAL mobile application will intensify all the dimensions of the platform. The application is available in various languages and can be used both to make consultations and register observations. In either case, it can be used to discover the biodiversity documented in the area where the user is located, and to look up information about any species.

It can also be adapted to each user’s particular profile, who can configure a route based on biodiversity to explore the natural heritage according to their interests, ensuring that tourism and nature activities are compatible with sustainability and the environment.

The BIODIBAL mobile application is available for Android and iOS devices.

•  Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.biodibal.mobile_app

•  iOS: https://apps.apple.com/tt/app/biodibal/id1549190292?ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Support of Red Eléctrica

Red Eléctrica is contributing to the continuity of this project over the next three years with a donation of 135,000 euros, in addition to the previously donated sum of 163.500 for its initial development. This initiative is part of the company’s 2030 sustainability commitment, which aims to create shared value with the society and environment of the places where it operates.