3rd International Ocean Data Conference (IODC III)

The theme of the conference was organised in four sessions:

1. Ocean Biodiversity ((and how we can collectively contribute to the needs of BBNJ and GBF)

2. Capacity development facilitating data, information, and knowledge exchange

3. Working towards a federated Global Ocean Data Ecosystem ongoing initiatives, partnerships and ambitions towards the Ocean Decade Vision 2030 outcomes

4. Application of Ocean data for sustainable Ocean Planning and Management

The Ocean biodiversity session opened the conference bringing presentations on topics:  Biodiversity data management, AI and biodiversity, monitoring, Ocean data collection and importance of citizen science, emphasizing the importance of integration of FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) into global ocean data framework.

The second day of the conference was dedicated to federated global ocean data ecosystem, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) presenting ongoing initiatives and available tools (ReMAP Data Tools, The NavySafe tool). European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) was presented through several presentations and posters.

Arturo Rey da Silva gave an interesting presentation on underwater cultural heritage (UCH) data. According to Unesco definition “Underwater Cultural Heritage” are “all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character which have been partially or totally underwater, periodically or continuously, for at least 100 years such as: i) sites, structures, buildings, artefacts and human remains, together with their archaeological and natural context; ii) vessels, aircraft, other vehicles or any part thereof, their cargo or other contents, together with their archaeological and natural context; and iii) objects of prehistoric character” (UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001).https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000126065) . Those data are of great importance to marine ecosystems therefore should be integrated into ocean data.

A great part of the second day was dedicated to Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS), an independent data system coordinated by the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of IOC-UNESCO. ODIS is a data federations system that takes data from different sources, enabling sharing and exchange of ocean data. ODIS- presented by Pier Luigi Buttigieg brought a background overview, introduced ODIS Architecture and stressed the benefits of sharing data with ODIS. Three regions shared their experience of participation in ODIS:  Latin America and Caribbean, Africa and PSIDS (Pacific Small Island Developing States). The presentations were followed by ODIS WORKSHOP and discussion groups.

There were about 40 presentations, four topical working groups and around 28 posters that were presented online (https://oceandataconference.org/postersession-iodc3/ ), also divided in four thematic sessions.  Highlights and summaries for each day are available at the conference page while video recordings of presentations are available at the programme page: https://oceandataconference.org/iodc-iii-programme/