Opening ceremony and first meeting of the Global Biodiversity and Health Big Data Alliance (BHBD) was held in Beijing, China

On October 14, 2018, Opening ceremony and first meeting of the Global Biodiversity and Health Big Data Alliance (BHBD) was held in Beijing, China. Meeting was chaired by representative from five countries including China, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. Dr.Amir Ali Abbasi from National Center for Bio-informatics, Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad represented Pakistan as co-founding member of BHBD Alliance. BHBD Alliance as an initiative of International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) is aiming to construct a world-class biodiversity and Health Big Data Center containing a variety of repositories and knowledge bases that are publicly accessible to worldwide communities. It will also promote the level of participation and influence of BHBD in global biological research. Pakistan as a co-founding member of this Alliance will ensure to inform scientific communities within its territory about the Alliance activities and promote its aim.

Dr. Amir Ali Abbasi highlighted the significance of Pakistan's role in BHBD by stating-“The expansion of this Alliance in coming years and implementation of its aims will contribute towards benefiting 7.6 billion members of our own species and will also help to control the ongoing biodiversity reduction caused primarily by Human Impact”. He further added that Pakistan stands among 20 most polluted countries according to WHO report and in particular, increased global warming in Northern areas, rapid melting of glaciers, deforestation, and water depletion are ultimately destroying the flora and fauna of lands once enriched with wildlife, hence, we are in dire need of preserving the biodiversity and BHBD Alliance will serve to the sole purpose.