Sharing data to achieve sustainable global marine management
The sustainable management of this marine environment
is therefore a critical economic as well as environmental issue, and to
be truly effective, international cooperation is required. For this
reason, the EU-funded IMARINE project, which was completed in April
2014, has developed data infrastructure specifically designed to
encourage cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration in this field.
Specialists from 17 countries gathered in Rome in March 2014 to mark
the imminent completion of the project, and to examine new funding
opportunities under the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. Addressing global
societal challenges is one of the three pillars of Horizon 2020, which
is something that IMARINE has successfully addressed.
The IMARINE infrastructure works by providing an open access
platform to relevant marine information and resources. This can be
accessed quickly and effectively by numerous marine stakeholders such
scientists, the fishing industry and environmental groups. Indeed, a key
challenge that emerged from early IMARINE workshops was the need for
greater global efforts - especially in fishing - to share information at
the international level. Seamless access to data should lead to
quicker, more informed decision making.
By interconnecting all these concerned sectors, the ultimate goal of
IMARINE is to encourage what is known as an ecosystem approach to the
marine environment. This approach aims to ensure that, despite
variability, uncertainty and likely natural changes within the
ecosystem, the capacity to produce food, revenue and employment is
maintained for the benefit of both present and future generations. This
will only be achieved through global collaboration among different
parties, and the IMARINE data infrastructure is designed to facilitate
this.
The IMARINE Board - made up of policy makers, industry experts and
scientists - has also contributed to the promotion of an ecosystem
approach through sharing examples of best practice, helping to define
global standards and offering advice on sustainable policies. Board
Members have also been instrumental in establishing several new
collaborations, by building on the possibilities presented by IMARINE's
operational data infrastructure.
The gateway is a key feature of this infrastructure. This provides
users with online access to a number of Virtual Research Environments,
which bring together experts, multidisciplinary data sources and
analysis on a particular issue. Within these research environments,
users can find everything they need to complete a particular task.
IMARINE promises to have a lasting impact on the way we address
sustainable marine management in the future. This will have direct and
indirect benefits on the future of our planet, from climate change
mitigation and marine biodiversity loss to disaster risk reduction.
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