OBIS capacity needs for marine biodiversity data management
1. OBIS
&
capacity-building
needs for marine
biodiversity data
management
General Assembly Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the
conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national
jurisdiction
May 7, 2013
P.N. Halpin1 & W. Appeltans2
1 Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University, Durham,
NC, USA
2 Ocean Biogeographic Information System, UNESCO – IOC/
IODE, Oostende, Belgium
2. Panel questions:
What are the capacity needs to apply conservation and
management tools, including area-based management and
environmental impact assessments?
What are the capacity-building activities that assist in applying
those tools?
What is the nature of the arrangements currently in place for the
transfer of marine technology?
What are the challenges to effective cooperation and
coordination and transfer of marine technology?
What mechanisms may be implemented to address those
challenges?
3. Panel questions:
What are the capacity needs to apply conservation and
management tools, including area-based management and
environmental impact assessments?
What are the capacity-building activities that assist in applying
those tools?
What is the nature of the arrangements currently in place for the
transfer of marine technology?
What are the challenges to effective cooperation and
coordination and transfer of marine technology?
What mechanisms may be implemented to address those
challenges?
I will address these questions through a discussion
of how the UNESCO/IOC Ocean Biogeographic
Information System (OBIS) is working to build
international capacity to address marine science
and management challenges in areas beyond
national jurisdiction (ABNJ).
5. • 2,700 scientists
• 80+ nations
• 540 expeditions
• US$ 650 million (direct & associated funds)
• 2,600+ scientific publications
• 6,000+ potential new species
• 30 million distribution records and counting
Census of Marine Life (2000-2010)
OBIS was established as the data repository and
information dissemination system for CoML
6. OBIS at IOC-UNESCO
In June 2009, the 25th Session of the IOC Assembly decided through
Resolution XXV-4 to adopt OBIS as part of IODE, because:
1. Knowledge of the oceans biodiversity is of such importance to national
and global environmental issues that the responsibility for its continuing
success should be assumed by governments.
2. IOC Member States have repeatedly identified the need to acquire
ocean biogeographic data for national ocean and coastal resource
management.
3. Without accurate, repeatable and timely biological data it is
impossible to address adequately the global ocean environmental
issues of pollution, climate impact and mitigation, ocean acidification,
ecosystem management, biodiversity loss, and habitat destruction
(Resolution of the UN General Assembly A/RES/63/111)
4. OBIS provided the opportunity to adopt an existing
global network for biogeographic data and to attract
the associated research community that can and
should be a continuous part of the Commission’s ocean
mandate.
7. Ocean Biogeographic
Information System
OBIS is the world’s largest open access, online
repository of spatially referenced marine life data that:
-- Nations can use to develop national and regional
assessments, to discover trends, gaps and biodiversity
hotspots and to meet their obligations to the Convention on
Biological Diversity and other international commitments.
-- Stimulates research about our oceans to generate new
hypotheses concerning evolutionary processes, species
distributions, and roles of organisms in marine systems on
a global scale.
-- Forms a baseline of marine life’s diversity,
distribution, and abundance against which
future change can be measured.
8. OBIS Network
OBIS is a
strategic
alliance of
hundreds of
scientists and
organisations
who contribute
data, information
and expertise to
OBIS.
OBIS
OBIS
Steering
Group
OBIS task
teams
OBIS
Group of
Experts
OBIS Nodes
Data providers
Users
policy makers,
managers,
researchers,
public
Stakeholders
Partnerships with CBD,
GBIF, EOL, GOBI, GOOS,
FAO, UNEP-WCMC, ICES,
SMEBD/WoRMS,
Species2000, GCMD, SCOR,
CBOL, !
contributing data providers & data nodes
10. http://www.iobis.org/
Ocean Biogeographic Information System
Search data based on
• Taxonomy
• Datasets
• Geographical boundaries
• Time, season, depth
• Oceanographic variables
• >35,000,000 records
• >120,000 species
11. OBIS data growth: # records
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Apr-01 Sep-02 Jan-04 May-05 Oct-06 Feb-08 Jul-09 Nov-10 Apr-12 Aug-13
#rrecordsinmillions
35 million geo-referenced species observations (+ 5 million since Jan 2011)
post CoML
12. OBIS data growth: # datasets
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
!"#$%&' ()"$%*' +,-$%.' /,0$%1' 234$%5' 6)7$%8' +9:$%;' <=>$&%' !"#$&*' !9?$&@'
1,130 datasets (+ 219 since Jan 2011)
post CoML
13. OBIS data growth: # marine species
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
Apr-01 Sep-02 Jan-04 May-05 Oct-06 Feb-08 Jul-09 Nov-10 Apr-12 Aug-13
120,000 marine species (+ 5,000 since Jan 2011)
#speciesx1000
post CoML
14. Global view: Marine Biological Diversity
2010 National Geographic map1 of marine biological
diversity interpolated from a statistical analysis2 based
on CoML & OBIS data
1 Halpin et al. 2010 2 Tittensor et al. 2010
15. Global view: number of records in OBIS per 50 cells
Even with >35,000,000 observations on-line we continue to
have significant data gaps and biases.
These data gaps can be attributed to either
lack of data or lack of data sharing.
• Northern hemisphere
• Coastal
• Surface or shallow
16. Global view: : number of records in OBIS
records per 50 cells
records per 10 cells
Effect of resolution!
19. The Unknown Ocean: A slice
Red = many records, dark blue none
The vast midwaters,
Earth s largest
habitat by volume,
mostly unexplored (~95%)
Source: CoML OBIS
Webb, O Dor, Vanden Berghe
Coastal areas > open waters;
Surface areas > the deep sea;
Vertebrates and other large animals
> smaller invertebrates;
Northern hemisphere > southern.
?
20. The Unknown Ocean: A slice
Red = many records, dark blue none
2013 has around 2.7x more records (almost 19Million, cf. almost 7M) compared to 2009, and the range of
sample depths represented has increased slightly, from 0-10670m in 2009 to 0-10900m now.
progress filling in data
22. OBIS contributions to the UN processes:"
(1) national reporting and (2) open oceans & deep seas"
National EEZ data queries Open-ocean ABNJ data queries
Open-access data made
available to all countries
and communities
International collaborative
data and research in areas
beyond national jurisdiction
OBIS is unique in this
international role
23. 10th Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on Biological Diversity
In Nagoya October 2010, the 10th Conference of the
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
(Decision COP10/29 para 10 and 35;) requested
Member States to further enhance globally networked
scientific efforts, such as the Ocean Biogeographic
Information System (OBIS), to continue to update a
comprehensive and accessible global database of
all forms of life in the sea, and further assess and map
the distribution and abundance of species in the sea!
24. Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs):
Criteria
1. Uniqueness or rarity
2. Special importance for life history of species
3. Importance for threatened, endangered or declining
species and/or habitats
4. Vulnerability, fragility, sensitivity, slow recovery
5. Biological productivity
6. Biological diversity
7. Naturalness
2008 COP9 criteria established
OBIS data can play an important
role in identifying areas that meet
specific EBSA criteria & also FAO-
VME and UNESCO-WH criteria
25. CBD-COP10 listed OBIS as a key source of information for the
identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas
(EBSAs)"
Areas of high biodiversity
Areas of special importance
for the life history of a
species
Areas of significant naturalness
Areas of
uniqueness or rarity
26. Compilation of scientific data & information
!
!
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~60-70 GIS data layers
Overlay & Analysis
Data types
• Biogeography
• Biological Data
• Physical Data
Workshop Data Report
CBD EBSA workshops
27. North Pacific regional EBSA workshop, Moscow,
25 Feb – 1 March 2013
OBIS contributions to the CBD EBSA process"
28. OBIS contributions to the CBD EBSA process"
Marine Mammal Observations
Eastern Tropical & Temperate Pacific
EBSA workshop, Galapagos
Ecuador, August 2012
IUCN Red-List Species
Wider Caribbean and Western
Mid-Atlantic workshop, Recife,
Brazil, February 2012
examples
29. OBIS contributions to the CBD EBSA process"
Biological Diversity all taxa
Wider Caribbean and Western
Mid-Atlantic workshop, Recife,
Brazil, February 2012
Proposed site meeting EBSA criteria:
Abrolhos Bank & Vitoria-Trindade Chain
Described in-part due to high regional biodiversity
as depicted using OBIS data.
30. Need for regional capacity building"
(a) Capacity building & training
• Training materials
• Workshop training
• Data & analysis facilitation
DRAFT
Training Manual for the Description of Ecologically
and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs)
in Open-ocean Waters and Deep-sea Habitats
(b) Regional data collection
• Data collection
• Data aggregation
• Data exchange
31. Need for international capacity building"
(a) Support to expand & sustain the iOBIS central data portal
• Sustained operational support
• Targeted resources to support international ABNJ activities (UNGA-
BBNJ, CBD-EBSAs, FAO-VMEs!)
(b) Support contributing OBIS nodes
• Data collection
• Data aggregation
• Data exchange
32. We need to move from uneven,
coarse resolution data...
The future
High resolution, contiguous
coverage in space & time!
This data needs to be aggregated
and made freely available to all
nations, institutions and individuals
To!
Our shared goal is to move
from ad hoc scientific expert
processes in ABNJ to more
systematic scientific
assessments.
33. Summary"
-- New resources are required to expand
and sustain the iOBIS data portal and the
contributing OBIS data nodes to support
ABNJ science needs.
-- International processes in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
require unbiased, open-access biological data.
-- The OBIS network provides the worlds largest information
system providing data on ocean biogeographic information.
-- Capacity building must address:
• regional capacity development to develop & use data;
• international capacity to provide comprehensive ocean data;
34. “OBIS is world's largest online system
for absorbing, integrating, and
accessing data about life in the
ocean”
Questions?