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ARBEC - The Story
Dawn of Digital Biodiversity
 "By george, Henry. I think we nailed a Gunda ochracea
Walker," exclaimed Jeremy Holloway, a hint of exuberance in his
voice. He had been hunting for this moth species since his accent to Mount
Kinabalu. At approximately 1,050 metres, around noon, he finally pieced
together one of the three genus of the gunda Walker species first
identified in 1862. A rare spot, and Henry Barlow, Jeremy's faithful
research associate dutifully documents the find which he would later
compile into what would be the world's foremost publication in moths
lepitdoptera.
Further up northwest from Mount Kinabalu, down at sea level, towards
the Malaysian Philippines border, lay the world's first transboundary
marine turtle hatchery. "Throw that plastic bag into the sea, and
you'll help wipe out 50 eggs," Nicholas Pilcher gestured to me as I
held a bag with an empty cola can. He had the right to be perturbed. As
our speed boat whizzed towards Pulau Bakungan Kecil off the coast of
Sabah, I was handed a lesson on the continuous decline of turtle
populations and nesting frequencies in the region. That innocuous
transparent plastic bag, was one of possible causes for the decimation of
the Hawksbill sea turtles. Their peril: Hawksbill cannot differentiate it
from jellyfish.
Three months later and a mountain range away, hidden deep within the
sanctum of the Crocker Range is a tropical highland dividing the west
coast and the interior regions of Sabah. One hundred and fifty biologists
and environmental scientists have set up camps at three different sites to
study and collect specimens on a collaborative effort for the first time.
"This scientific expedition," explains Professor Murtedza
"Ted" Mohamed, "is just one tiny step towards inventorying
the biodiverse components and ecological processes found within the park
area." As Ted sized up the task of managing the expedition ahead,
mammalist drool at the prospects of spotting the rare Nycticebus coucang
(slow loris) and Manis javanica (scaly ant-eater).
Hunting for endemics - whether moths, long horn beetles, sea turtles,
birds, medicinal plants or ferns - is one reason for this expedition, and
one reason why zoologists, ornithologists and biologists risk their
comfort to wallow in the deep sea and scale mountainous pristine rain
forests. Continuous activities such as the above, serves to testify and
cement South East Asia's reputation as a rich, untapped resource centre
for convergence of biodiversity researchers from all over the world.
It was a matter of time before all these resources and research
accumulated over the years, and continuously growing, would have to be
made easily accessible to all interested. Enter the ASEAN Review of
Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (or better known as ARBEC).
ARBEC, the brainchild of Professor Ghazally Ismail, Deputy Vice Chancellor
of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) was conceived in October 17 1997
at Frankfurt, Germany. The initial idea for ARBEC was to create an
electronic platform to publish review papers on research in the field of
biodiversity within the ASEAN region.
However, as the concept grew in stature, the prospect for expansion
began to take on another dimension, that of providing an electronic
platform to link up South East Asian biologists and ecologists all over
the world as well as other authorities on the subject matter. For the
first time ever a cost effective, common gateway was initiated to provide
these authorities a means to access information on the latest researches
in the South East Asia in real time. Previously, such information was
relayed only through the publication of occasional papers, as well as
through meetings at regional conferences.
But ARBEC changed all of that. Within the first year of its
implementation, the platform witnessed several groundbreaking milestones:
· Delayed webcast of a major biodiversity conference via the internet
· Digital capture of the scientific expedition to the Crocker Range,
Sabah · Linking up with major natural history museums in Europe and the
United States · Creation of localised, indigenous virtual museums of
natural history · Breaking news of local biodiversity research and the
instantaneous relay of such information world wide i.e. stories of the
dying dugongs, launch of Malaysia's National Biodiversity Policy,
Sarawak's endangered coral reefs, Asia Pacific's periled plight of the Sea
Turtles etc. · First online journal in biodiversity published over the
internet for institutional subscription.
But what started it all?
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