IODE-XXVII Work Plan 2023-2024

Version 6 April 2023

Last update: 29/1/2024

ACTIONS COMPLETED: 16

ACTIONS ONGOING: 33

ACTIONS WITHOUT PROGRESS: 12

Para number

Action item

Deadline

Implemented by

Status

34

The Committee called on NODCs and ADUs to apply for accreditation as a “quality seal” demonstrating that the data services provided are of the highest quality standards

continuous

NODCs, ADUs

6/4/2023: email sent to all NODC and ADU contacts

no new applications since IODE-27

35

The Committee stressed the importance of hosting an NODC and urged IOC Member States that have not yet established an NODC to do so to ensure their ocean data are shared globally and that their national ocean scientists have easy access to the global ocean data commons.

continuous

IOC Member States

ONGOING

no new NODCs established

36

The Committee stressed the importance of hosting an AIU and urged marine libraries and information centres that have not yet established an AIU to do so to ensure their ocean information is shared globally and that their national ocean scientists have easy access to the global ocean information commons.

continuous

Marine libraries and information centres

6/4/2023: email sent to IAMSLIC President

20/10/2023: no change

37

The Committee invited accredited NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to provide assistance and mentoring services to other NODCs, ADUs and AIUs that wish to apply for accreditation

continuous

Accredited NODCs, ADUs, AIUs

should be reported on by NOCDs, ADUs and AIUs at IODE-28

ONGOING

45

The Committee instructed the Secretariat to further investigate this matter [decrease in data centres that report a data discovery portal ] and invited data centres to establish data discovery portals

IODE-28

IODE Secretariat

DONE

54

The Committee noted the slow progress on the IODE data centre health check procedures, although a short progress report has been made available very recently, decided to extend the “Inter-sessional working group on the review of NODC health status within the IODE network” for another inter-sessional period and instructed the working group to (i) provide a status report on the procedures to the IODE Management Group (2024); and (ii) finalize the procedures for submission to the 28th Session of the IODE Committee (2025).

IODE-MG 2024 and IODE-28

IWG review NODC health status

Ongoing 

55

The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to take into account the procedures used by the SG-OBIS as a possible model in their deliberations.

IODE-MG 2024 and IODE-28

IODE MG

See 54 

57

The Committee further decided that, once a year, the IODE Secretariat should send out an IOC Circular Letter to all IOC Member States, inviting them to designate or update information on IODE national coordinators (data management and information management) and update the list on the IODE web site

End 2023, end 2024

IODE Secretariat

DONE

IODE Secretariat sent out CL October 2023 

67

The Committee noted with regret the continuing small number of IODE Associated Information Units (AIUs) and requested a concerted recruitment effort be made to increase the number before IODE-XXVIII in close collaboration with ASFA and IAMSLIC.

continuous

IODE Secretariat, ASFA, IAMSLIC

see 36 

68

The Committee invited information centres, marine libraries and librarians as well as professional organizations such as IAMSLIC and ASFA to collaborate with IODE activities directly

continuous

information centres, marine libraries and librarians, IAMSLIC, ASFA

To be discussed with IAMSLIC

(ongoing through AquaDocs)

DONE

 69

The Committee, noting the slow and limited establishment of NODCs by Member States, recommended that a statement inviting Member States to actively establish NODCs should be included in the Assembly draft decision on IODE

IOC-32 (prep for April 2023)

IODE Secretariat, IODE Co-Chairs

6/4/2023: DONE

70

The Committee welcomed the steady growth in the number of IODE ADUs and invited organizations that manage oceanographic data currently not involved in IODE, to consider joining IODE as ADUs

continuous

Organizations that manage ocean data

action by organizations

ONGOING 

82

The Committee instructed all IODE projects and invited Member States to contribute research and informational documents to AquaDocs

continuous

IODE projects

6/4/2023: email sent to all project leads

no action reported

83

The Committee invited institutions and organizations, with insufficient capacity to host their own repository, to use AquaDocs.

continuous

Institutions and organizations

see 82 

84

The Committee recommended that AquaDocs serve as the repository for reports and documents generated by the Decade Actions

As soon as possible

DCU

6/4/2023: sent email to DCU

DONE: documents being entered in AD

109

The Committee invited IQuOD to explore cooperation with other IODE projects such as ODIS/OIH, OTGA and others

As soon as possible

IQuOD, other IODE projects

ONGOING

(Discussion between OIH/ODIS with INCOIS ongoing, re linking IQuOD and ODIS)

117

The Committee congratulated the network of OBIS nodes and the Secretariat for the important achievements and reiterated its past requests to the IOC Executive Secretary to create a regular programme position for the OBIS data manager

January 2024 and continued

IODE Co-Chairs

Included in UNESCO 42 C/5. Position to be created in 2024

DONE 

124

The Committee urged the IODE community to further document their methodologies and best practices and share them in the Ocean Best Practices System

continuous

IODE community

ONGOING 

128

The Committee called on Member States to participate in the Ocean InfoHub Project (OIH) to increase the visibility of their data holdings to the world, and to enable improved and more efficient access to global Ocean data

continuous

Member States

ONGOING 

first group of NODCs contacted September 2023

138

The Committee expressed its appreciation for the progress made by PacMAN, decided to continue this project and requested Member States to support the Secretariat and partners involved in PacMAN to further build upon and replicate PacMAN in other states, especially developing states and SIDS that are more vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of marine invasive species. This will directly support Member States in implementing target 6 of the recently adopted CBD COP15 Kunming-Montreal 2030 targets, which aims to reduce the introduction of new invasive alien species by 50%, and puts emphasis on priority sites, such as islands

continuous

Member States

to be reported on by PacMAN project

ONGOING 

151

The Committee encouraged that IODE activities should be included in the work plans of the IOC Regional Subsidiary Bodies (RSBs) through active participation of IODE national coordinators (data management and information management), NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in meetings of the RSBs, and requested the IODE Secretariat to contact the regional IOC offices to ensure inclusion of data/information in the agenda of RSB meetings

April 2023 and

IODE-28

RSBs (IODE Secretariat to contact RSB Secretariats)

6/4/2023: email sent to RSB Secretariats

September 2023: discussions being held with IOCARIBE

ONGOING

152

The Committee welcomed the offer by NMDIS (China), as ODINWESTPAC Secretariat, to actively participate in OIH/ODIS in preparation for new future arrangements of ODINs

As soon as possible

NMDIS and OIH/ODIS

To be reported on by NMDIS and OIH/ODIS

ONGOING 

159

The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to (i) further clarify and finetune the naming definitions; (ii) propose the designation of all other IODE activities; and (iii) propose procedures to guide applications for new components, activities and projects, and submit these to the 28th Session of the IODE Committee in 2025

(i) 2023
(ii) 2023
(iii) 2024 and by IODE-28

IODE MG

ONGOING
(See report

164

The Committee approved the “Rules of Procedure for IODE Programme Components, Programme Activities or Projects” and instructed all projects to adopt these in their management structure by the next meeting of the IODE Management Group (December 2023/January 2024)

IODE MG (Dec 2023/Jan 2024)

IODE projects

 

ONGOING

All former projects to report at IODE MG February 2024

 

165

The Committee instructed the Secretariat to publish the “Rules of Procedure for IODE Programme Components, Programme Activities or Projects” in the IOC Manuals and Guides series

End 2023

IODE Secretariat

DONE

25/4/2023: IODE Manuals and Guides No. 91 published

170

The Committee instructed the SG-QMF to revise IOC Manuals and Guides No. 67 (IODE Quality Management Framework for National Oceanographic Data Centres and Associate Data Units (Revised edition)) to include the changes to the accreditation process

As soon as possible (2023)

SG-QMF

DONE

IODE Manuals and Guides No. 67 rev 2 published (2/10/2023) 

171

The Committee invited Member States to nominate suitably qualified experts with experience in implementing quality management systems for management of oceanographic data to the SG-QMF for the next intersessional period and instructed the Secretariat to send out the call for experts as soon as possible

As soon as possible

Member States/ IODE Secretariat

17/4/2023: Email sent to IODE NCs for DM and ADUs 

2/8/2023: new membership established

DONE

 

187

The Committee encouraged Member States, NODCs and ADUs to support the development of GO2DAT financially and in-kind

continuous

Member States, NODCs, ADUs

no action reported 

192

The Committee invited NODCs and ADUs, as well as relevant existing regional networks, to participate in the upcoming data collection calls

Continuous

NODCs, ADUs, regional networks

ONGOING

to be reported by IOC OSS Secretariat 

197

The Committee instructed its Co-Chairs to engage with the OCG Data Strategy Implementation Plan to ensure that it is fit for purpose from the ocean data management community standpoint

As soon as possible

IODE Co-Chairs

ONGOING

to be reported on by IODE Co-Chairs at IODE MG 2024 

198

The Committee urged IODE experts to participate in (online) OCG meetings

As soon as possible

IODE experts

ONGOING

to be reported on by IODE Co-Chairs at IODE MG 2024

199

The Committee noted with appreciation the ambitious plan for a BioEco Data Portal that is an integrated resource for national, regional and global ocean observing system monitoring and planning, and instructed IODE OBIS to identify the resource needs to fulfil this in a 2023-2025 planning proposal

As soon as possible

IODE/OBIS Secretariat

DONE
Covered through EU projects: MARCO-BOLO, BioEcoOcean, DTO-BioFlow

201

The Committee took note of the activities undertaken with the TSR (tsunami resilience section) and invited TSR to consider more extensive collaboration through relevant IODE activities

As soon as possible

IOC/TSR

ONGOING

(cooperation with OTGA)

208

The Committee noted the concerns expressed by the WESTPAC Secretariat and recommended that discussions should be held between the WESTPAC Member States, NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in that region, to identify needs and possible supporting measures

As soon as possible

WESTPAC Member States, NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in that region

ONGOING

Secretariat contacted NMDIS to request starting discussions (20/11/2023

211

The Committee urged IOC Member states to work on closer collaboration on interoperability between IOC/IODE OIH/ODIS and WMO WIS 2.0

As soon as possible

IOC Member States

ONGOING

(regular cooperation meetings are being held) 

212

The Committee instructed the Secretariat to invite WMO to join IODE activities under the Ocean Decade

As soon as possible

IODE Secretariat

ONGOING

see 211

 

216

The Committee invited IODE NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to report (as part of the reporting in preparation for IODE Committee meetings) on projects, programmes and other initiatives in which they are involved and relevant to IODE

IODE-28

NODCs, ADUs and AIUs

no action

to be done in preparation for IODE-28 

220

The Committee strongly recommended NODCs and ADUs in Europe to consider involving IOC/IODE as a partner in future EU project proposals

IODE-28

NODCs, ADUs in Europe

ongoing

225

The Committee proposed that the ASFA Secretariat impact study explores further cooperation between OpenASFA and AquaDocs assessing the impact on user communities and identifying any actions to support SDGs, the Ocean Decade and joint market opportunities

As needed

ASFA

ONGOING

(ODIS is in the process of linking to OpenASFA. As of 25 Oct this was basically completed but not indexed yet)

227

The Committee recommended IODE and IAMSLIC to continue their relationship and create a new MOU of activities of mutual interest, including the provision of ongoing support by IOC/IODE and IAMSLIC to ensure the continuity of the AquaDocs Repository

As soon as possible

IODE, IAMSLIC

done

no new MoU established. AquaDocs hosting cost shared by IODE and IAMSLIC (October 2023) 

237

The Committee instructed the IODE Co-Chairs to prepare a brief statement for the 32nd Session of the IOC Assembly (June 2023) on the outcome of IODC2

April 2023

IODE Co-Chairs

DONE 

238

The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to prepare a proposal on the way forward to take the recommendations from IODC1 and IODC2 into consideration in the work plan of IODE during the next inter-sessional period (April 2023 – March 2025) as well as in the preparations for IODE-XXVIII

2023

IODE MG

NO ACTION 

267

The Committee encouraged NODCs/ADUs/AIUs to explore ways and opportunities to streamline their CD activities utilizing the Ocean CD-Hub

Continuous

NODCs, ADUs, AIUs

ONGOING

271

The Committee instructed the working group (to draft the new structure of the IODE web site), to restart the discussions on the restructuring of the website and the IODE Secretariat to proceed with the redevelopment by end of 2023

End of 2023

working group to draft the new structure of the IODE web site

ONGOING

new web site to be launched January 2024 

295

The Committee urged IODE NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to also submit projects, preferably as IODE actions or including IODE as a “partner” in projects

Continuous

NODCs, ADUs, AIUs

no action reported 

296

The Committee invited the IODE World Ocean Database (WOD) project to submit a Decade Action proposal via the IODE Secretariat

As soon as possible

WOD project

DONE

submission 20/9/2023 

297

The Committee requested the DCU to keep the IODE Secretariat updated on any funding opportunities for the submitted Decade Actions and instructed the IODE Secretariat to update the IODE Management Group and IODE Committee on progress in this regard

continuous

DCU, IODE Secretariat

no action reported by DCU 

300

The Committee instructed the “IODE Intersessional Working Group (IWG) to identify the IODE contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)” to focus its work on elements 2 and 3 of its terms of reference

IODE-28

IWG to identify the IODE contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)”

no action 

301

The Committee welcomed the numerous submissions of Decade Actions by IODE and involvement in several other Decade Actions but called on the DCU for pro-active action to attract funding to enable the implementation of the submitted actions

continuous

DCU

see 297 

302

The Committee called for the Decade’s more active participation in IODE programme elements such as ODIS, OBIS, OTGA and others as these can all contribute substantially to the data and information requirements of the Decade

Continuous

DCU

ONGOING

 

307

The Committee instructed the IODE Co-Chairs to contact the IOC Executive Secretary and DCU management to inform them about the potential benefits of OceanExpert to the Ocean Decade and extend the offer again

As soon as possible

IODE Co-Chairs

ONGOING

(IODE Co-chairs contacting IOC Exec Sec and DCU in October/ November 23)

317

The IODE Committee, taking into account the 2022 events and their global impact, decided (i) not to proceed with the establishment of the IODE Partnership Centre for ODIS during the next inter-sessional period and (ii) to consider this matter again at the 28th Session of the IODE Committee in 2025

IODE-28

IODE Committee

to be discussed at IODE-28

338

The Committee called on Member States to participate in the Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS), the Ocean InfoHub Project (OIH) and OceanData-2030 to increase the visibility of their data and information holdings to the world, and to enable improved and more efficient access to global Ocean data and information

Continuous

Member Sates

ONGOING

to be reported on by IOH/ODIS at MG2024 

344

The Committee called on UNESCO Member States to approve one of the Base Case scenarios noting that the ZNG scenario would bring IODE below the minimum level of viability

2023

UNESCO Member States

ONGOING

substantial budget increase requested in 42 C/5, requested by UNESCO Executive Board to UNESCO General Conference (November 2023) 

352

The Committee urged the IOC Executive Secretary to provide additional staff to IODE.

2024

IODE Co-Chairs

DONE

additional P-3 to be established in 2024 (see  117)

354

The Committee called on Member States, philanthropic organizations or private companies to consider seconding, either at the IOC Project Office for IODE, in Oostende, Belgium or in-kind (working from their usual place of work) in order to strengthen the IODE Secretariat

Continuous

Member States, philanthropic organizations or private companies

no action reported 

358

The Committee thanked the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for their support as an essential contribution to the resources needed by the IODE Programme, and called on the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) and VLIZ to continue their support

2024

Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium)

ONGOING

proposals to be submitted in 2024 when next FUST is established. 

360

The Committee strongly urged IOC Member States to follow the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) example and establish structural funding agreements to support IODE.

Continuous

IOC Member States

ONGOING

(agreement being discussed with NORAD)

361

The Committee called on its members and parent institutions to involve IODE in any project proposal that includes data or information management elements

Continuous

IODE Committee members and parent institutions

no action reported 

366

The Committee requested that relevant events should be included in the OceanExpert calendar.

Continuous

IODE Committee members and IODE Secretariat

ONGOING, based on information received 

367

The Committee invited IOC regional offices to inform the IODE Secretariat on relevant events in their region

Continuous

IOC regional offices

ONGOING 

368

The Committee recommended to the Ocean Decade Strategic Communication Group, to promote the importance of data and information inviting IODE and to join with the Ocean Decade events, among others, in which the Ocean Science community participates

Continuous

Ocean Decade Strategic Communication Group,

ONGOING 

372

The Committee adopted the work plan and budget for the next inter-sessional period and invited Member States to provide additional support to IODE.

Continuous

Member States

no support received 

376

The Committee instructed the Secretariat to send out a Circular Letter to invite additional members of the Inter-sessional working group on the review of IODE structure and working methods

As soon as possible

IODE Secretariat

ONGOING

preliminary discussions in April 2023. No further action.

397

The Committee requested its Co-Chairs and the IODE Secretariat to make editorial corrections as necessary, taking into account the discussions held during the session

As soon as possible

IODE Secretariat

DONE 

398

The Committee requested the IODE Co-Chairs to present the Executive Summary to the Thirty Second Session of the IOC Assembly that would take place in June 2023

IOC-32 (June 2023)

IODE Co-Chairs

DONE 
 
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