Read: The EOL White Paper

In partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and the Pinhead Institute to plan construction of the critically needed database of all species of life on earth.

Launched at a symposium in Telluride, in February 2004, the task of The Encyclopedia of Life is to build a world-wide data base of all known living species, and to support the tremendous work of discovery of unknown species still to be done.

An Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is needed to establish a critical baseline of biological information to understand ecological systems and environmental changes among Earth's landscapes, many of which are being rapidly denigrated or converted.

Under the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution and building upon other international efforts, the collaborative Encyclopedia of Life initiative will signal the advent of a new global scientific initiative equivalent to the Human Genome Project or sending a man to the moon.