The GIS laboratory of WWF-Pakistan is the largest environmental conservation Geographical Information System set up in Pakistan. The laboratory was established over ten years ago as a facility to handle large geo-spatial datasets related to environmental management and conservation in Pakistan.
The geographic information system (GIS) laboratory’s primary mandate is the systematic collection and storage of data on habitats and species in Pakistan and development of easy-to-use standardized data and information sharing mechanism, widely used by organizations, scientists, institutions involved in conservation activities. This complements the mission of WWF - Pakistan to conserve natural and ecological processes and to ensure its sustainable use.
Activities of GIS Laboratory are directly in line with Article 17 of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) which emphasis on the facilitation of the exchange of information, from all publicly available sources, relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. In this regard, the web portals: www.wildtracker.pk, www.esmap.pk and www.wwfgeonetwork.org have been developed and deployed for public access. Network of such web based information systems will lead us to establish Biodiversity Information Infrastructure in Pakistan.