Development of the funding information system for nature conservation and natural climate protection (FINK)

The Federal Office for Nature Conservation (BfN) intends to establish and further develop a central, cross-funding program application for the collection, management, linking and evaluation of funding project data with the funding information system FINK (funding information system nature conservation and natural climate protection). FINK is to support the technical implementation of the funding programmes of the Action Programme for Natural Climate Protection (ANK) and the Federal Nature Conservation Fund (BNF).

For this purpose, the system brings together relevant project master data, funding information, area and spatial data and monitoring and indicator data in a single data structure. The aim is to provide a reliable and quality-assured data basis for funding coordination, monitoring, evaluation and reporting at federal level. The specialist application is intended to enable efficient research, linking and evaluation of data across funding programmes and projects.

This includes in particular flexible filter and search functions, standardized data imports and interfaces, professional validation and plausibility checks as well as the preparation of evaluations and reports. Through the integration of geographic information systems (GIS), funding areas can be spatially represented, analyzed and linked to other geodata. A particular use case is the identification of spatial and substantive overlaps of support measures as a basis for examining possible double funding.

The technical implementation should be based on an efficient, expandable and maintainable system architecture. A relational database based on PostgreSQL/PostGIS, a web-based frontend and suitable interfaces and methods for data integration are provided. A role- and rights-based access concept as well as comprehensible data verification and approval processes are intended to ensure data quality, data security and controlled provision of information.

FINK will be designed to be modular and scalable so that further funding programmes, data sources and technical requirements can be integrated step by step. The system is intended to improve the BfN’s cross-programme funding management, reduce the effort for manual data linkages and provide a reliable basis for assessing the use of funds, the achievement of targets and the impact of promoted nature protection and climate protection measures.