ODINAFRICA Website workshop was held at the IODE Project Office, Oostende, Belgium between 11th-13th May 2016. Main Purpose of the workshop was to discuss the long-term sustainability of the websites in terms of hosting and the immediate requirements to keep the websites up-to-date both in terms of content and technology.
ODINAFRICA and all the NODC websites have been given a makeover by Globefinity Systems, Kenya (http://www.globefinity.net/). Websites will be available after the official announcement.
IOC Africa will now work with Globefinity Systems for regular maintenance and updating of its websites. The websites will continue to be hosted at the IOC Project office for IODE.
The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP) contributes to the removal of barriers hindering the effective sharing of data across scientific domains and international boundaries. ODIP includes major organisations engaged in ocean data management in EU, US, and Australia. ODIP is also supported by the IOC/IODE who participates in its implementation and operation, closely linking this activity with its ODSBP project (http://www.oceandatastandards.org and http://www.oceandatapractices.net and through the IODE OceanDataPortal (http://www.oceandataportal.org) . The 2nd ODIP-2 workshop was held at UCAR's Center Green facility, Boulder, United States. The meeting was attended by more than 40 participants from the partner institutions as well as IOC/IODE. In addition to reviewing progress with the ODIP project prototypes a special session was held on the management of marine biology data, coordinated by Ward Appeltans (OBIS/IODE). The session included presentations on OBIS-ENV-DATA, mARS, WoRMS, Marine Regions, Lifewatch, semantic web technology, EMU, GFBio etc.The presentations are being made available from http://www.iode.org/odip2workshop2. More information on the ODIP project can be found on http://www.odip.org . Cooperation of IODE in ODIP-2 will involve biological data (through OBIS) and the creation of a “community practice” document repository through the IODE OceanDataPractices (http://www.oceandatapractices.net) repository.
The United Nations, including representatives of intergovernmental organizations and civil society have started the negotiations of a new legally-binding instrument to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the high seas).
Access to the majority of marine living resources occurring below 50% of Earth’s surface are currently not under control of any state or competent body, and hence suffer from what is called the tragedy of the commons, where short-term benefits are enjoyed by a few individual states, and impacts are shared by all. The Rio+20 The Future We Want outcome document, urged states to overcome this legal gap and take measures to implement the provisions under the Law of the Sea Convention to ensure the benefits derived from high seas’ biodiversity are shared with all and guaranteed for future generations.
The new instrument will address environmental impact assessments and area-based management tools, including the establishment of marine protected areas. It will also provide a governance mechanism that regulates access to and benefit sharing derived from marine genetic resources. Capacity development and transfer of marine technology are considered absolutely necessary to make this instrument universal, serving all its future Parties including developing countries.
The first meeting (28 March – 8 April 2016) of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) was conducted in a spirit of transparency and willingness to reach consensus on a new Treaty. While the road to agree on the scope is still long, there was a strong plea for building on and not undermining existing instruments and bodies and applying a pragmatic approach to benefit-sharing, with many delegations highlighting the importance of science and further investments in R&D; and international scientific collaboration, to improve the generation and sharing of knowledge. The best-available scientific information should form the basis for management decisions and conservation policies. It also recognized the need for a fund and the establishment of a global network of training centres to ensure capacity is build globally.
The majority of states referred to the IOC Criteria and Guidelines for the Transfer of Marine Technology as a guiding principle, recognizing marine technology includes more than physical infrastructure, but also access to data and information, manuals, guides, standards and best practices. Several states pointed to the mandate of the IOC of UNESCO as a clearing house for transfer of marine technology, mentioning IOC’s work in training and capacity building as well as the Ocean Biogeographic Information System as an effective global platform, involving a network of national authorities, for the sharing of research data and information.
Many items currently under discussion in the PrepCom touches on several areas of competency of the IOC. At this early stage, it is difficult to discuss the institutional mechanism, whether a new ad-hoc coordination body is needed and if the mandate of one or several existing organizations should be expanded. The IOC is closely following the BBNJ process and the 49th session of the IOC Executive Council (June 2016) will consider IOC’s contribution to a new potential agreement. A side event demonstrating relevant activities of IOC is planned for the second PrepCom meeting in August 2016.
The two IOC of UNESCO statements provided during the 1st PrepCom can be download here:
By the end of 2017, the PrepCom will deliver its recommendations, including the elements on which there is no consensus, if any, to the United Nations General Assembly, which will then take the decision to convene an intergovernmental conference in 2018.
Following on from the successful International Marine Science Communication Conference (IMSCC-1) held in 2014 in Porto (Portugal), the Bruges-Ostend CommOCEAN event is a unique opportunity to make a major leap forward in communicating your ocean knowledge. The organizers (VLIZ, EMB, EMBCP, UNESCO-IOC-IODE) are developing an inspiring, innovative and interactive programme consisting of two separate events: a 2-day conference in Bruges (6-7 December 2016), followed by a 1-day training program at the InnovOcean facilities in Ostend (8 December 2016). The call for contributions (orals, poster, workshop) is now open for the 2-day conference.
Submission of abstracts from all areas of science communication with a special focus on the ocean, marine and estuarine realm is encouraged.The four major sessions of the conference comprise: 1. the fundamentals of science communication/reaching out to the public; 2. optimizing impact; 3. social media & graphics; 4. think out of the box; new formats & creativity.
More information about the venues, conference scope and tentative program as well as submission guidelines here: www.CommOCEAN.org. More information on the 1-day training course will be made available soon.
The March 2016 issue of the ICAN Newsletter has been published. This issue includes the following topics: Marine Atlas supports Belgium's Marine Spatial Plan; SPINCAM week in Flanders; GSDI Association Marine SDI Best Practice Project update; Scotland's National Marine Plan interactive (NMPi) portal continues to grow and evolve; ICAN Tech Newsletter Update; About the Network; and COINAtlantic visualizes the OBIS Canada Integrated Publication Tool entries. We want to thank the authors who contributed articles! Download HERE
A data management plan outlines how research data will be managed, stored, documented and secured throughout a research project as well as planning for what will happen to the data after completion of the project. The IODE encourages all researchers to prepare a data management plan for research projects that will collect marine data and to ensure the data generated by research projects be permanently archived in the IODE network of National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs).
The United Nations, including representatives of intergovernmental organizations and civil society have started the negotiations of a new legally-binding instrument to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the high seas).
