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fDesc[0] = "The project aims at creating a first network of South Asian and European partners interested in sharing their knowledge in applied computer science for taxonomy and in the preparation of two CD-ROMs for identifying trees species in two &ldquo;hotspots&rdquo; of biodiversity: the rain forests in the Western Ghats of India and in the northern Annamite Mountain range of Lao PDR. The project work plan is divided into 6 overlapping activities over a period of 3 years .<br /> <br /> Human pressure on the environment has steadily increased throughout the last few decades, specially in South and Southeast Asia. This part of the world is also particularly rich in biodiversity such that sustainable methods for managing the environment, based on appropriate biological knowledge are in high demand.<br /> The present project is an initiative in the emerging area of biodiversity informatics and aims to develop a knowledge base on two major &ldquo;hotspots&rdquo; of biodiversity: the rain forests in the Western Ghats of India and the Northern Annamite rain forests of Lao PDR (Myers N. et al., 2000). The knowledge base, built on a tree species identification system (IDAO), will be instrumental in understanding and assessing the biodiversity of these highly significant areas, as it would provide and facilitate dissemination of scientific and traditional knowledge. The knowledge base will draw from existing reference herbariums, which will however need to be completed with extensive field trips. Developed as an open source web-based application, the knowledge base will be made available on-line, on CD-ROMs for personal computer platform as well as on Simputer, a PDA operating on Linux with local language support.<br /> The result would primarily address the needs of stakeholders that are involved in maintaining and preserving these diverse rain forests, including the large scientific community working in these geographical areas and also the government agencies. The partnership builds on the foundations of the pre-existing scientific collaboration between the various partners who have specialized in developing IT&amp;C applications for taxonomy (IDAO) on one hand, and taxonomy itself on the other hand. The existing collaborative efforts are both at institutional level and through regional networks like European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN). The project also brings together the partners&rsquo; demonstrated capabilities in implementing similar actions, viz. a) the development of IDAO, the core module of the identification system by CIRAD, b) the application of IDAO in the field of mangroves species, funded by the European Commission and implemented by the IFP and the CIRAD.";

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