The United Nations has proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (see http://www.oceandecade.org) to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and gather ocean stakeholders worldwide behind a common framework that will ensure ocean science can fully support countries in creating improved conditions for sustainable development of the Ocean. As mandated by the UN General Assembly, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO will coordinate the Decade’s preparatory process, inviting the global ocean community to plan for the next ten years in ocean science and technology to deliver, together, the ocean we need for the future we want!
The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme of the IOC is the programme responsible for enhancing marine research, exploitation and development, by facilitating the exchange of oceanographic data and information between participating Member States, and by meeting the needs of users for data and information products.
The IOC Assembly, at its 30th Session (June 2019) recognize that a major component of the ocean data and information system landscape is not linked to the IOC and the need to collaborate with those communities/systems in order to achieve improved accessibility, unrestricted use and interoperability of data and information. In addition the Assembly recalled that the IOC decided that IODE will work with existing stakeholders, linked and not linked to the IOC, to improve the accessibility and interoperability of existing data and information, and to contribute to the development of a global ocean data and information system, to be referred to as the IOC Ocean Data and Information System, leveraging established solutions where possible, including existing IODE systems and others.
One of the key targets of the UN decade is "Promoting knowledge and information that are more equitably shared around the world (closing the knowledge gaps amongst countries, balancing the knowledge systems and taking into consideration the needs of coastal communities and more particularly the most vulnerable such as the Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries)".
[content to be added from Implementation Plan 2.3]
2019
As from 2019 the IODE programme has started te development of its contribution to the UN decade. A first initiative was the development of the ODISCat: an online browsable and searchable catalogue of existing ocean related web-based sources/systems of data and information as well as products and services. It will also provide information on products and visualize the landscape (entities and their connections) of ocean data and information sources. (see: http://catalogue.odis.org).
2020
The second initiative was the organization of the "Workshop on data sharing between UN agencies as a contribution to the UN decade of ocean science for sustainable development" (online meeting, 20 April 2020). Its purpose was to bring together member organisations of the UN-Oceans group (http://www.unoceans.org). The meeting was attended by FAO, IOC, ISA, UNDP, UNEP, UN ESCAP, UFCCC, UN Statistics, WCMC and WMO. The participants shared information on the ocean related data and information held or coordinated by their organization. The report is available from http://www.iode.org/wr288
They also agreed to establish working groups that will follow-up on issues related to improved sharing of data and information:
Working Group 1: ODISCat development
Objectives: the working group will consider:
- addressing how to handle granularity issues of ODISCat content, in particular regarding websites>data systems/portals/data catalogues;
- revising “themes” (he recommended using a standard such as the “International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard (http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-events/tag-piccolo/en/) and https://iatistandard.org/en/;
- revising “types”: better definitions are needed to distinguish e.g. data catalogues, data systems. He recommended adding “data services” (for APIs), possible “web sites” as a type;
- revising “sea regions”: consider mapping with other geo-classifications;
- for “data policies”: promote the mention of the Terms of Use / any CC licenses (particularly CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-SA);
- “metadata standards”: can we add to the list / refer other standards;
- consider the use of nested/hierarchical ontologies
- “Machine to machine interaction technologies”: how do we engage into interoperability.
- Respond to the need (stated across the Decade’s regional meetings) for cataloguing projects, initiatives, and people (through interoperability with other services) with the ODISCat technology.
- Usage model alignment to re3data and fairsharing.org
- Support for automatic syncing with asset catalogues of partners (cross-link to ODIS-Arch)
Initial membership:
- FAO: Marc Taconet
- IOC: Arno Lambert, Pauline Simpson
- WCMC: Lauren Weatherdon
- ISA: Sheldon Carter
- Invited experts: Pier Luigi Buttigieg
It is noted that the group can identify additional membership as required. The group will designate its Chair.
WORKING GROUP 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Objectives: ODIS is a multifaceted and complex undertaking, thus there is a need to develop a clear and easily communicable conceptual framework to help partners align and interact with the system.
The objectives of this working group are:
- To develop a conceptual description of ODIS’ core features, paying special attention to the following perspectives:
- Alignment to the ODIS and Decade visions and missions
- Cultural dimensions
- Technical dimensions
- To express these concepts in multiple forms, according to the needs of partners (e.g. technologists, professionals, oceanographers, policy makers, the public)
Initial membership:
- IOC: Pieter Provoost
- ESCAP: Gemma Van Halderen and Rikke Munk Hansen
- Invited experts: Pier Luigi Buttigieg, Michael Bordt, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP))
It is noted that the group can identify additional membership as required. The group will designate its Chair.
WORKING GROUP 3: IDENTIFICATION OF STAKEHOLDERS TO INVITE FOR NON-UN IGO, NGO AND PRIVATE SECTOR WORKSHOP
Objectives: data and information are held by UN agencies (and their associated networks in Member States) but also by many non-UN IGOs, NGOs and private sector. In order to obtain a more complete picture of available knowledge these communities will need to be involved in the development of the proposed data ecosystem. The working group will identify a comprehensive list of stakeholders (including relevant contact points) that can then be invited to a second workshop.
Initial membership:
- All participating UN agencies (to 1st workshop): each agency to designate member to collaborate on the “list”
It is noted that the group can identify additional membership as required. The group will designate its Chair.
In addition, participants of the workshop were invited to become members of the INTER-SESSIONAL WORKING GROUP TO PROPOSE A STRATEGY ON OCEAN DATA AND INFORMATION STEWARDSHIP FOR THE UN OCEAN DECADE (IWG-SODIS). (membership here)
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Created on: Tuesday, 05 May 2020 08:51
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Last Updated on: Thursday, 17 November 2022 17:20
