Major Interdisciplinary Groups and Programs with Common Objectives for EBAs

Major programs with common objectives requiring interdisciplinary observations and modeling

include the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network,295 Regional Seas Conventions,296 Marine

Protected Area management programs,297 and Large Marine Ecosystem programs.298

• The goals of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO

BON) and of coastal GOOS are very similar and achieving them will benefit from formal collaboration. GEO BON is the biodiversity arm of GEOSS. Some 100 governmental and non- governmental organizations are collaborating through GEO BON to make their biodiversity data, information and forecasts more readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. It has been recognized by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as by the member states of the Group on Earth Observations.

GEO BON is a “network of networks” composed of two types of constituent networks: Regional BONs and Topical BONs. Regional BONs are autonomous networks that form (largely spontaneously) to serve the biodiversity observation needs of a group of neighboring countries. Topical BONs are global in geographical scope and focused on a particular aspect of biodiversity (e.g., one taxonomic group, trophic level, or type of data). The goal of this network of networks is to develop a coordinated, global system for gathering and sharing information on biodiversity, providing tools for data integration and analysis, and contributing to more effective environmental management and human well-being.

GEO BON is intended to facilitate linkages among the many countries, organizations and individuals contributing to the collection, management, sharing and analysis of observations on the status and trends of the world’s biodiversity. It will also identify gaps in and between existing biodiversity observation systems and promote mechanisms to fill them. The scope of GEO BON includes primary observations and observation-based inferences on changes in ecosystem biodiversity, structure, function, and services in terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and open ocean marine domains.

The GEO BON Steering Committee consists of biodiversity information users and providers. The Steering Committee meets as needed, and consults electronically between meetings. It reports to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) plenary. The coordination actions of GEO BON are conducted by working groups, established by the Steering Committee, with a defined purpose and for a limited period. The members of the working groups are experts, appointed on a voluntary basis and in their own capacities, selected to provide the necessary skills, experience and connections to achieve the task. There are eight working groups: (1) Genetics / Phylogenetic Diversity, (2) Terrestrial Species Monitoring, (3) Terrestrial Ecosystem Change, (4) Freshwater

Ecosystem Change, (5) Marine Ecosystem Change, (6) Ecosystem Services, (7) In situ / Remote- Sensing Integration Through Modeling, and (8) Data Integration and Interoperability.

Priorities for the Marine WG are as follows:

o Facilitate the mobilization and accessibility of online biodiversity data;

o Facilitate consensus on data collection protocols, data quality control and coordination of development of interoperability among monitoring programs;

o Facilitate data rescue activities (recovering data in paper publications or other forms) to

make them available for analysis;

o Facilitate the global monitoring of ecosystems using a combination of remote sensing and

in situ approaches;

o Coordinate the efforts of individual institutes, countries and large programs to perform in

situ measurements in a sustainable way;

o Stimulate/Coordinate all activities to define a marine ecosystem classification and

visualization thereof;

o Help to provide in situ data to develop process models and forecasting related to biodiversity;

o Stimulate long term observations for monitoring human-induced changes of critical

ecosystem parameters linked to biodiversity change such as pH, T, nutrients, oxygen, chlorophyll, and currents;

o Facilitate research to characterize the state of ecosystems by metagenomic tools;

o Identify gaps in monitoring of crucial ecosystems by a detailed inventory of ongoing and past monitoring activities;

o Stimulate the embedding of biological and sequence data in a contextual and metadata

context;

o Stimulate capacity building through major international programs related to POGO, the NIPPON Foundation, SCOR, IOC and others.

The starting point for organizing a partnership for coastal ocean observations will be the networks of marine laboratories including the European Network of Marine Research Institutes and Stations (MARS), the North American Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) and the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONE). These and other regional networks are joining together to establish the World Association of Marine Stations (WAMS) under the auspices of the IOC (see section 5.7.3).

The Marine WG will request assistance from the National and Regional Implementation Committees of the Census of Marine Life to achieve an up-to-date inventory of existing networks and to identify the individual scientists who are willing and able to support the development of BONs. In addition to WAMS, key partners will include the Partnership for the Observation of the Ocean (POGO), the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science

• GEO Coastal Zone Community of Practice (CZCP)300

The CZCP supports the operational goal of providing data and information needed to inform management decisions across the land-sea interface. To this end, the CZCP engages stakeholders in the development of those elements of the GOOS and GTOS that are required to provide and integrate data on terrestrial, freshwater, marine and atmospheric systems that converge in the coastal zone. Specific objectives of the CZCP are to (1) engage data providers and users in the specification of requirements for in situ and remote observations; (2) evaluate current and projected observation capabilities against these requirements, and identify gaps, redundancies and activities that need to be strengthened; (3) promote the development of workshops and “proof of concept” pilot projects; and (4) promote development and strengthening of networks of institutions globally, regionally, and across Communities of Practice that contribute to and benefit from GEOSS to achieve the mutual goals of GOOS and GTOS. High and immediate priorities for GEOSS are improved forecasts of sea-level rise and associated increases in coastal inundation that may be exacerbated by increases in the frequency of extreme weather and the loss of ecological buffers to coastal inundation.

• The Regional Seas Program, launched in 1974 by UNEP, is among the longest running

initiatives aimed at marine environmental protection on a regional, multinational (trans- boundary) scale. It is intended to engage neighboring countries in comprehensive actions to protect their shared marine environment. Beginning with an initial focus of action plans on protecting the marine environment from pollution, their objectives have expanded over the years to include integrated coastal management and the development of appropriate response to the

impacts of climate change. Thirteen Regional Seas Programs are recognized by UNEP,301 but

only those with legally binding conventions that ensure cooperation among governments have enjoyed success. Examples of the latter are the Barcelona Convention for the Mediterranean Sea (established in 1976), the Oslo and Paris Convention for the NE North Atlantic Ocean (OSPAR, established in 1992), and the Helsinki Convention for the Baltic Sea area (HELCOM, established in 1992).

• The Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Program was implemented to develop EBAs and

build capacity in developing countries. Two features of LMEs are particularly relevant to coastal GOOS. First, spatial boundaries were not based on political or economic criteria. Using ecological criteria (bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophic relationships), 64 LMEs have been delineated around the coastal margins of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Second, sets of indicators, many of which have been identified for coastal GOOS (Table 16), are used to assess the success or failure of actions to recover depleted fish stocks, restore degraded habitats, and reduce and control coastal pollution and nutrient enrichment (Table 19). The LME concept for ecosystem-based approaches to managing fisheries and ecosystem health are being applied to 16 of the designated LMEs (Figure 13) through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank, participating countries, and other donors.

• Regional networks of MPAs began with the 1971 Ramsar Convention, the first global

intergovernmental treaty for the environment.302 The keystone of the Convention is the

establishment of a network of protected areas (Ramsar Sites) under the “List of Wetlands of International Importance” to conserve and sustainably used wetland goods and services. Marine and coastal wetlands, which account for ~ 20% of the nearly 2,000 Ramsar sites, encompass a broad range of habitats including permanent shallow marine waters; marine subtidal aquatic beds (e.g., kelp beds, sea-grass beds, tropical marine meadows); coral reefs; rocky marine shores; sand, shingle or pebble shores (e.g., sand dunes, sand bars, spits and sandy islets); estuaries and deltas; intertidal mud, sand or salt flats; intertidal marshes; intertidal forested wetlands (e.g., mangrove forests); coastal brackish/saline lagoons; and brackish to saline lagoons. The global network of Wetlands International provides rapid access to specialists on wetland conservation throughout the world. These are supported by 13 regional and project offices on five continents. In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development called for the establishment by 2012 of marine protected areas consistent with international laws and based on scientific information, including representative networks. The 2003 Durban Action Plan called for regional action and targets to establish a network of protected areas for 20 to 30% of the world's oceans by the goal

date of 2012.303 The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), in partnership with the

Category Indicator

Productivity Primary productivity, Chlorophyll-a, SST, Zooplankton Fisheries Catch (landings & value) & Effort

Catch from trawling and dredging Status of stocks

Marine trophic & fishing in balance indices Primary production required

Ecosystem health Harmful algal blooms (HABs) & hypoxic zones Freshwater discharge & sediment loads

Sea level rise

Concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrate & total phosphorus Mercury & other contaminants (oil, litter, etc)

Acidification

Reefs & deltas at risk indices

Extent of mangrove, saltmarsh & seagrass habitats Marine Protected Area coverage (%)

Socio-economics Marine-based income (by livelihood or economic sector) Industrial fisheries vs Small scale (employment, landings) Recreational fisheries, Forage fisheries & use

Fishing subsidies

Human development index & component indicators Population in coastal zone and distribution by elevation Fishery and aquaculture index

Marine activity index

Agriculture (fertilizer application, t/km2/yr)

Economic losses from disasters (e.g., coastal flooding, HABs, oil spills) Table 19. Indicators identified for Large Marine Ecosystems.

Global Marine and Protected Area Program of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is leading the effort to establish the global network. MPAs are important tools for EBAs (ecosystem-based assessments) in managing marine resources and, therefore, share requirements in common with GOOS for monitoring and modeling. Coordinating and integrating data collection and analysis, and coordinated implementation of MPA-monitoring programs with coastal GOOS will allow more cost-effective and timely detection of changes in ecosystem states and more effective management responses to impacts.

5.7.2 Data Providers