Forest Development Database in Local University

With a database of 1 500 documents that include scientific papers, books, PhD and master degree theses, the interactive forest resources platform of the Hermanos Saiz University (UPR), represent a point of reference in central America, Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean.

Sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and with a fund over 72 thousand convertible pesos, the digital tool is one of its kind in the national territory.
According to Raúl Ricardo Hernández Concepción, coordinator of the project, the idea began in 2005

“After a FAO workshop with various officials of the venue in Rome and nine countries from Central America and the Caribbean came up the need to create a means to exchange virtual information. The project was approved in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2014 that it was implemented”.
The purpose of the country is to reach year 2020 with 29 % of the surface covered by forests and Pinar del Rio is the province with the largest forested area.

How do you favour the creation of new contents to strengthen the research projects?
We offer scientific documents to the community to develop any thesis and the possibility to promote the main results of the specialists of the sector of the entire country.

At present, one of the advantages is that we are in the top of the search tools of the web such as Google, Yahoo and FAO official website.

All the forest faculties of the national universities contribute with the initiative and also the organisms related to the science. And the students?
The students do not tribute directlty with materials but they find specialized bibliography for the development of theses and papers.

After three years the project has been internationally recognized

We are available in countries like Peru Costa Rica, Argentina, Ecuador, Spain, Brazil and Panama.
The number of users that visit the site is remarkable; with over a thousand foreign users. We have an average of over 150 documents consulted.

Perspectives to widen the platform
We have already closed the first phase. We are working on the update and restructure of the virtual community in order to increase and widen the amount of services.
Which services will you add?

Blogs, forums and we have confirmation of foreign magazines that will give us more visibility and category.

Most of the articles are national. Do foreign specialists contribute?

In the world of knowledge the transference of technology is vital. Although other countries have different weather conditions and species, there are always aspects that can be adapted to own conditions.

Expectations

At present we are the most viewed informative tool of the University. We expect to be indispensable for the daily work of forest science specialists of the country and we also intend to become one of the best database of the world.