The program, launched on April 23, 2018, by an US consortium, https://www.earthbiogenome.org/organization/, plans to decipher the genomes of all known eukaryotic species in the next 10 years, and use genomics techniques to help discover the remaining 80% to 90% of species unknown in the scientific community. It will include major contributions from BGI in Shenzhen. The total project funding is expected to be US$4.7 billion, which is lower than the current cost of the Human Genome Project. A major challenges is sample collection. The EBP project needs to develop a global strategy for collecting sample vouchers sufficiently preserved to produce high quality genomic sequences. The geographical distribution of biodiversity and the presence of biodiversity hotspots in remote areas of the world, such as the Amazon Basin or Borneo, will also make the collection of many organisms a significant challenge.
China Bio news release, April 25, 2018