Dr. Ion Grigoras is a senior researcher and head of the Informatics System department of INCDDD. He is specialised in databases, GIS and remote sensing, applied to the environment. Ion has 32 years experience in IT, 25 of which were spent working with biologists, structuring environmental information in combination with other spatial data including orthophoto and satellite images. He was a GIS/remote sensing expert in environmental projects located in the Ukraine, Russia and Western Africa (1999 – 2005) and in the team that coordinated the Corine Land Cover 2000, 2006, 2012 for Romania. He coordinated projects that set up a Natura 2000 network in Romania (2005-2012) and designed the Natura 2000 web-database. At present, he is leading the “Strengthening the Natura 2000 network” project that implements recommendations of the 2012 biogeographical seminar for Romania.