The 2011 GBIF report is published, with an overview of progress over the past decade. One area where progress has been less than hoped is digitisaion of the larger collections, although the various innovative approaches are noted.
ICSU has been developing a strategic framework for earth system research over the past 3 years - summarised on the Earth System Visioning site. To meet the ICSU Grand Challenges for research and the Belmont Challenge, Future Earth has been initiated - a new 10-year initiative on earth system research involving various ICSU programmes and partners and the funding agencies represented in the Belmont Forum. Initial launch at the recent Planet Under Pressure meeting, with a fuller exposure at Rio +20
