P.N. Halpin 1 & W. Appeltans 2

Transcription

1 OBIS & capacity-building needs for marine biodiversity data management P.N. Halpin 1 & W. Appeltans 2 1 Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA 2 Ocean Biogeographic Information System, UNESCO IOC/ IODE, Oostende, Belgium 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 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?

2 Panel questions: What are the capacity needs to apply conservation and management tools, including area-based management and environmental impact assessments? I will address these questions through a discussion What are the capacity-building activities that assist in applying those of how tools? 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). 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? Census of Marine Life ( )

3 Census of Marine Life ( ) 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 OBIS was established as the data repository and information dissemination system for CoML 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.

4 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. OBIS Network OBIS is a strategic alliance of hundreds of scientists and organisations who contribute data, information and expertise to OBIS. Users policy makers, managers, researchers, public Stakeholders Partnerships with CBD, GBIF, EOL, GOBI, GOOS, FAO, UNEP-WCMC, ICES, SMEBD/WoRMS, Species2000, GCMD, SCOR, CBOL, OBIS OBIS Nodes Data providers OBIS task teams OBIS Steering Group OBIS Group of Experts contributing data providers & data nodes

5 OBIS nodes 1. Antarctica/ AntOBIS 12. Mediterranean/ 2. Arctic/ ArcOD/AOOS MedOBIS 3. Argentina/ArOBIS 13. South-East Pacific/ 4. Australia/ OBIS- ESPOBIS Australia 14. South-West Atlantic/ 5. Black Sea/ BlackSea- WSAOBIS OBIS 15. South-West Pacific/ NZOBIS 6. Canada/ OBIS- Canada 7. China/ OBIS-China 8. Europe/ EurOBIS 9. India/ IndOBIS 10. Japan/ OBIS-Japan 11. Korea/ KOBIS 22 existing nodes 3 proposed Marine mammals, seaturtles & seabirds 16. Sub-Saharan/ AfrOBIS 17. USA/ OBIS-USA iobis portal 18. Global/ MicrOBIS 19. Global/ OBIS- SEAMAP 20. Global/ Hexacorals 21. Global/ FishBase 22. Global/ Seamounts 23. Gulf of Aden 24. South-East Asia 25. Caribbean (bold = NODC status, green = Candidate node) Ocean Biogeographic Information System >35,000,000 records >120,000 species Search data based on Taxonomy Datasets Geographical boundaries Time, season, depth Oceanographic variables

6 OBIS data growth: # records 35 million geo-referenced species observations (+ 5 million since Jan 2011) #rrecords in millions post CoML Apr-01 Sep-02 Jan-04 May-05 Oct-06 Feb-08 Jul-09 Nov-10 Apr-12 Aug-13 OBIS data growth: # datasets 1,130 datasets (+ 219 since Jan 2011) post CoML

7 OBIS data growth: # marine species 120,000 marine species (+ 5,000 since Jan 2011) # species x post CoML Apr-01 Sep-02 Jan-04 May-05 Oct-06 Feb-08 Jul-09 Nov-10 Apr-12 Aug-13 Global view: Marine Biological Diversity 2010 National Geographic map 1 of marine biological diversity interpolated from a statistical analysis 2 based on CoML & OBIS data 1 Halpin et al Tittensor et al. 2010

8 Global view: number of records in OBIS per 5 0 cells Northern hemisphere Coastal Surface or shallow 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. Global view: : number of records in OBIS Effect of resolution records per 5 0 cells records per 1 0 cells

9 Pacific view: number of records in OBIS per 5 0 (left) and 1 0 (right) cell Arctic view: number of records in OBIS per 5 0 (left) and 1 0 (right) cell

10 The Unknown Ocean: A slice Red = many records, dark blue none Coastal areas > open waters; Surface areas > the deep sea; Vertebrates and other large animals > smaller invertebrates; Northern hemisphere > southern.? The vast midwaters, Earths largest habitat by volume, mostly unexplored (~95%) Source: CoML OBIS Webb, ODor, Vanden Berghe The Unknown Ocean: A slice Red = many records, dark blue none progress filling in data 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 m in 2009 to m now.

11 Peer-reviewed Papers citing OBIS (Google Scholar) Cummulative # papers citing OBIS # papers citing OBIS per month OBIS contributions to the UN processes: (1) national reporting and (2) open oceans & deep seas OBIS is unique in this international role 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

12 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 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 OBIS data can play an important role in identifying areas that meet specific EBSA criteria & also FAO- VME and UNESCO-WH criteria 2008 COP9 criteria established

13 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 Compilation of scientific data & information ~60-70 GIS data layers Workshop Data Report Overlay & Analysis CBD EBSA workshops Data types Biogeography Biological Data Physical Data

14 OBIS contributions to the CBD EBSA process North Pacific regional EBSA workshop, Moscow, 25 Feb 1 March 2013 OBIS contributions to the CBD EBSA process Marine Mammal Observations Eastern Tropical & Temperate Pacific EBSA workshop, Galapagos Ecuador, August 2012 examples IUCN Red-List Species Wider Caribbean and Western Mid-Atlantic workshop, Recife, Brazil, February 2012

15 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. 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

16 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 The future We need to move from uneven, coarse resolution data... Our shared goal is to move from ad hoc scientific expert processes in ABNJ to more systematic scientific assessments. To High resolution, contiguous coverage in space & time This data needs to be aggregated and made freely available to all nations, institutions and individuals

17 Summary -- 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; -- New resources are required to expand and sustain the iobis data portal and the contributing OBIS data nodes to support ABNJ science needs. OBIS is world's largest online system for absorbing, integrating, and accessing data about life in the ocean Questions?