Dr Bev Mackenzie, IMarEST Technical Director with inputs from IMarEST expert members issued a white paper, focusing on the importance of stakeholder management in creating societal value from coastal and ocean observations.
According to the study, to get an insight into the societal and economic advantages of ocean observation, an integrated ocean observing system is needed. The ‘Integrated ocean observing system’ is about a network of observation platforms and sensors that acquire a huge variety and volume of spatio-temporal data about the ocean environment.
These integrated systems contribute to the information-base which enables the benefits from the blue economy to be maximized.
Generally, as shown above, Ocean Observing in the EU faces many challenges and barriers; There are plenty of inefficiencies in technology, capacity, resources, data sharing, as well as planning. In the meantime, there’s also lack of sustainability and fragmentation of observation.
Furthermore, there is a gap in terms of technological and human capacities between the types of ocean variables observed. While observations for the physical variables have attained a high level of quality, data availability and aggregation, biological observations are lagging behind.
Additionally, Ocean Observation is costly. The EU has examined the costs around Ocean Observation, and resulted to capital costs alone being upward of thousands of million euros per country with associated operational costs in the hundreds of millions per year.
Today, there’s an urgency to grow this network and engage a wider range of stakeholders with an increased understanding and appreciation of ocean issues.
The report highlights that the EOOS (European Ocean Observing System) is open and inclusive adding value to existing efforts across three focus areas:
- Better Coordinated and Sustained in situ Ocean Observing EOOS will connect stakeholders across the ocean observing community with a focus on in situ observations, linked to remote sensing and modeling and to ensure full integration and responding to user needs.
- Ocean Variables Relevant to Society EOOS will serve as a European focal point for systematic, long-term observation and monitoring as a forum to discuss, coordinate and implement international standards (e.g., Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables) and define European priorities for wider ocean variables. EOOS will promote innovative, adaptable ocean observing that can respond to evolving user needs, apply emerging technology and help invest in observations and Big Data initiatives.
- Integrated Ecosystem Approach EOOS will promote multi-platform, integrated and thematic observing, which is crucial for sustainable management of ocean activities, and to assess ecosystem health and functioning and the interfaces with climate and the wider earth system.
Amongst its benefits, the EOOS will also connect ocean observing users, system implementers and funders across multiple geographical scales from national to regional and sea-basin scale.
This requires buy-in and support from both the bottom-up community of infrastructure owners and data providers and top-down institutions that can provide political endorsement and, potentially, resources. The entire value chain should be considered from observations to information, products and services, including satellite and in situ observations, and data assimilation into models to produce products and services such as forecasts.
The paper concludes with recommendations as to the necessary steps that will be required to grow such an ocean observation network, stating the utmost importance of effective communication. It also impresses the need to transition to a new societal paradigm, whereby a ‘science-society’ is the new norm for coastal and ocean observations.
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