From May 19 to 23, 2025, the GBIF Europe and Central Asia (ECA) nodes and participant organisations gathered in Waterford, Ireland, bringing together leading actors in biodiversity informatics to discuss recent developments, practices, collaborations and strategic initiatives for data-sharing.

Participants first engaged in a bioblitz along the UNESCO-listed Copper Coast, using Observation.org and iNaturalist to document species and explore biodiversity data collection tools that will be presented during the meeting. Key discussions focused on the CARE principles for data governance, enhancements in infrastructure, and closer collaboration between GBIF and OBIS for streamlined marine biodiversity data publication. Belgium presented its progress on the Humboldt Extension, demonstrating how it can refine metadata and improve data accessibility for monitoring projects. Other highlights included updates on metabarcoding data publication tools and practices, the integration of the Catalogue of Life as GBIF’s taxonomic backbone, and coordinated efforts to mobilize datasets from Biodiversa+ funded projects with support from national nodes. The meeting also introduced upcoming funding opportunities, calls for volunteers, and initiatives like the Living Data Conference.

The event concluded with interactive workshops, notably one on AI-driven specimen digitization, supporting an automated interpretation and capture of specimens labels and annotations, and another on engaging the private sector in biodiversity informatics and open data sharing. GBIF ECA 2025 reaffirmed the power of international collaboration in advancing well-documented, accessible biodiversity data for research and policy-making.