Southeast Pacific data and Information Network in support to Integrated Coastal Area Management (SPINCAM)
Outline
The Project aims to establish an ICAM indicator framework in each country of th
e Southeast Pacific region (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru), focused on environmental and socio-economic conditions within the context of sustainable development and integrated coastal area management.
The application of a harmonized methodology and the development of a set of indicators among the participating countries will permit the calculation of a core set of common indicators at regional level. In addition, information systems will be built at national and regional level, which will support both the development of the indicators and dissemination of the results.
Special attention will focus on how indicator-based information is communicated to a wide audience, including technicians and various coastal stakeholders. This will be done through the development of fact sheets and score cards on each indicator and the development of a State of Coast report/Coastal Atlas at national level.
The project will focus primarily on national priorities and requirements, while seeking to benefit from regional networking and the development of regional products and services as well as national ones.
The implementation of this initiative will give support to the implementation and sustainability of ICAM in the region The project is expected to be implemented over a 3 years period.
Primary Goals
(i) Establish an indicator framework in each country focusing on the state of the coastal and marine environment and socio-economic conditions, which will provide stakeholders with information on the sustainability of existing and future coastal management practices and development.
(ii) Build information systems at national and regional level that support the development of indicators, their spatial representation, and the dissemination of ICAM resources and experiences (including the communication format(s) and strategy).
Budget
US$ 770,000 from FUST (Flanders-UNESCO Trust Fund for Science )
US$ 2,788,000 from IOC/UNESCO and participating countries (in-kind and cash contributions)
National Partners
- Chile
- National Commission for the Use of the Coast, Undersecretary of Navy (Comisión Nacional de Uso del Borde Costero, Subsecretaria de Marina)
- Colombia
- Environmental, Housing, and Territory Ministry (Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial)
- Ecuador
- Coastal Resources Management Program (Programa de Manejo de Recursos Costeros - PMRC)
- Panamá
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (Manejo Integrado de Zonas Costeras, Autoridad de los Recursos Acuáticos de Panamá)
- Peru
- Institute of Marine Resources of Peru (Instituto del Mar del Peru - IMARPE)
IOC Partner programmes
ICAM, IOCARIBE, ODINCARSA, IODE
ACTIVITIES
The start-up meeting of the SPINCAM project was held in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 10-11 June 2008.
It was attended by the National Focal Points as well as some Technical Focal Points, the CPPS
Secretariat, IOC/ICAM and IOC/IODE. In addition the meeting welcomed UNESCO Montevideo.
The meeting reviewed the Project Document as approved by the FUST but recognized the need to revise the work plan and budget in view of the differences in national capacity, level of ICAM implementation, and thus requirements. The meeting further agreed that the project will be coordinated by the CPPS (Comision Permanente de Pacifico Sur) Secretariat in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Each work package was discussed in detail. With regard to Work Package 2 (Data and Information Management) it was recognized that the starting date of this package would depend heavily on initial progress with Work Package 3 (Development of National Indicator Framework) as the "standardized inventry of relevant data and information" can only be developed once the chosen indicators (and thus their related measurables), geographic scope, geographic scale and time scale have been identified. The meeting identified 13 core indicators.
The meeting further focused on the current status in each country regarding national focal point, technical focal point, national coordination committee, administrative arrangements (for the reception of funds), as well as the current situation regarding data and information management (existance of NODC, IODE national coordinator for data management, IODE national coordinator for information management). In this regard it was noted that currently no NODC exists in Panama.
With regard to capacity building related to the Atlas development it was noted that the "standard" training and development cycle as used in Africa and the Caribbean included the following: (i) basic data management course; (ii) course on data mining and assimilation; and (iii) Mapserver training course. Taking into consideration that several SPINCAM partner countries already have considerable data and information management expertise it will be necessary to assess the training needs. For this purpose the IODE Secretariat will distribute the course description of each course mentioned above.
The meeting also agreed that an additional national data and information management group should be established. This group will bring together data managers of all relevant thematic national institutions (themes: geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, human environment). The group will agree on common metadata standards, parameters, formats and technical/procedural arrangements that will lead to the production of the national data and information inventry as well as the required layers.
Regarding WP4 (regional ICAM indicators, communication, outreach and training) the meeting agreed that a dedicated web site needs to be established to share information on the project with the project partners as well as interested users. The meeting requested the IOC Project Office for IODE to establish a site based upon Joomla and hos the site on behalf of the Project partners. The content creation and editing will be the responsibility of the project coordinator (at CPPS) and possibly the national/technical focal points. It was further agreed that relevant imagery should be developed (the IOC Project Office for IODE was requested to identify a suitable contractor and to assist with the discussions on the imagery). The meeting further agreed on a SPINCAM domain name that will be used for the project: www.spincamnet.org (and www.spincamnet.net) and requested the IOC project Office for IODE to register this domain.
It was also agreed that all training materials that will be prepared for the project, should be included in OceanTeacher. In this regard the meeting was informed that a new release of OceanTeacher based upon Mediawiki technology will be launched in September 2008.
The full report of the meeting will be made available end of June 2008.
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Created on: Monday, 16 June 2008 12:31
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Last Updated on: Monday, 01 July 2013 12:20
