TAIPEI - A GROUP of Canadian scientists is working on an ambitious project to create a global database of up to half a million of the world's species using DNA barcoding technology.

The scientists are hoping to raise US$150 million (S$226 million) to fund an initial five-year stage of what they describe as the biodiversity equivalent of launching a rocket to the moon.

DNA barcoding, a technique for characterising a species using only a short DNA sequence, has wide-ranging implications for health and the environment.

It could help remove illegal fish and timber supplies from global markets, get rid of pests such as mosquitoes and even reduce the numbers of collisions between birds and planes.

Paul Hebert, head of the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, is spearheading the plan.

'We're now trying to launch in Canada the International Barcode of Life Project, which has a five-year life span,' Mr Hebert said at a three-day seminar on DNA in Taipei.

'We hope to put US$150 million into this through a 25-nation alliance.'

'The idea is collectively we would gather five million specimens and 500,000 species within that five-year period,' Mr Hebert added, saying the entire project could take 15 years.

The seminar in Taipei has brought together 350 scientists from 45 countries to debate the 'barcoding of life' concept.

Scientists estimate that while nearly 1.8 million species have already been identified, there may be another 10 million that are not known.

But DNA barcoding technology has progressed so rapidly that scientists predict science fiction-style powers to recognise previously unfamiliar creatures could become reality in a decade.

'Like in the film of Star Trek, anything scanned by such devices could display its image, name and function,' said Allen Chen from Taiwan's Academia Sinica.

'This could be done 10 years from now after a global barcoding data bank is set up,' said Mr Chen, an expert in corals. -- AFP