Biodiversidad en cifras: Democratizing access to Colombia's natural heritage

The client

The Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute is the entity responsible for promoting, coordinating, and conducting biodiversity research in Colombia.

The challenge

Colombia, recognized as one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, houses an immense natural wealth documented in millions of records. The Humboldt Institute faced the challenge of transforming this vast amount of scientific information into accessible and meaningful knowledge for diverse audiences. The challenge wasn’t just about presenting data on thousands of species, but integrating information from hundreds of contributing organizations, maintaining constant updates reflecting new discoveries, and ensuring the information was comprehensible to both experts and the general public.

The solution

In 2022, the Humboldt Institute partnered with Datasketch to develop Biodiversidad en Cifras, an innovative web platform that transforms complex scientific data into clear and accessible visualizations. The project was conceived not just as a tool to show numbers, but as a means to tell the story of Colombian biodiversity through data.

The process

The platform’s development required an approach that went beyond technological implementation. It was essential to understand how different users, from scientists to interested citizens, needed to access and use this information. The platform was designed to allow exploration of biodiversity from multiple perspectives: encompassing national figures, detailed departmental profiles, specific biological groups, and comprehensive regional panoramas.

The impact

For SiB Colombia, the transformation was significant. Updating figures, which previously required extensive manual processes, became a systematic and efficient procedure. Data, previously confined to technical reports, became accessible to all audiences. The platform currently presents information about all 32 departments and Bogotá, protected areas, and indigenous territories, becoming a digital window into the country’s biodiversity.

Key features

The platform allows users to explore biodiversity in innovative ways, offering visualizations that show species distribution by department, updated figures on threatened species, and data on exotic species. Interactive visualizations enable users to understand patterns and trends in Colombian biodiversity intuitively.

Future perspectives

Biodiversidad en Cifras continues to evolve, incorporating new data and improving its visualization capabilities. The project demonstrates how technology and user-centered design can make scientific information truly accessible to everyone, contributing to the democratization of knowledge about Colombian biodiversity.