IODE workplan

explain what is a workplan

IODE-XXVII Work Plan 2023-2024

[last update 27 October 2023]

Para numberAction ItemDeadlineImplemented bystatus
34The Committee called on NODCs and ADUs to apply for accreditation as a “quality seal” demonstrating that the data services provided are of the highest quality standardscontinuousNODCs, ADUs6/4/2023: email sent to all NODC and ADU contacts.
no new applications since IODE-27
35The Committee stressed the importance of hosting an NODC and urged IOC Member States that have not yet established an NODC to do so to ensure their ocean data are shared globally and that their national ocean scientists have easy access to the global ocean data commons.continuousIOC Member StatesONGOING
no new NODCs established
36The Committee stressed the importance of hosting an AIU and urged marine libraries and information centres that have not yet established an AIU to do so to ensure their ocean information is shared globally and that their national ocean scientists have easy access to the global ocean information commons.continuousMarine libraries and information centres6/4/2023: email sent to IAMSLIC President
20/10/2023: no change
37The Committee invited accredited NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to provide assistance and mentoring services to other NODCs, ADUs and AIUs that wish to apply for accreditationcontinuousAccredited NODCs, ADUs, AIUsshould be reported on by NOCDs, ADUs and AIUs at IODE-28
ONGOING
45The Committee instructed the Secretariat to further investigate this matter [decrease in data centres that report a data discovery portal ] and invited data centres to establish data discovery portalsIODE-28
IODE Secretariat
no action
54The Committee noted the slow progress on the IODE data centre health check procedures, although a short progress report has been made available very recently, decided to extend the “Inter-sessional working group on the review of NODC health status within the IODE network” for another inter-sessional period and instructed the working group to (i) provide a status report on the procedures to the IODE Management Group (2024); and (ii) finalize the procedures for submission to the 28th Session of the IODE Committee (2025).IODE-MG 2024 and IODE-28IWG review NODC health statusOngoing (document to be available by December 2023)
55The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to take into account the procedures used by the SG-OBIS as a possible model in their deliberations.IODE-MG 2024 and IODE-28IODE MGsee 54
57The Committee further decided that, once a year, the IODE Secretariat should send out an IOC Circular Letter to all IOC Member States, inviting them to designate or update information on IODE national coordinators (data management and information management) and update the list on the IODE web siteEnd 2023, end 2024IODE SecretariatDONE
IODE Secretariat sent out CL October 2023 
67The Committee noted with regret the continuing small number of IODE Associated Information Units (AIUs) and requested a concerted recruitment effort be made to increase the number before IODE-XXVIII in close collaboration with ASFA and IAMSLIC.continuousIODE Secretariat, ASFA, IAMSLICsee 36
68The Committee invited information centres, marine libraries and librarians as well as professional organizations such as IAMSLIC and ASFA to collaborate with IODE activities directlycontinuousinformation centres, marine libraries and librarians, IAMSLIC, ASFATo be discussed with IAMSLIC
(ongoing through AquaDocs)
DONE
68The Committee invited information centres, marine libraries and librarians as well as professional organizations such as IAMSLIC and ASFA to collaborate with IODE activities directlycontinuousinformation centres, marine libraries and librarians, IAMSLIC, ASFATo be discussed with IAMSLIC
(ongoing through AquaDocs)
DONE
69The Committee, noting the slow and limited establishment of NODCs by Member States, recommended that a statement inviting Member States to actively establish NODCs should be included in the Assembly draft decision on IODEIOC-32 (prep for April 2023)IODE Secretariat, IODE Co-Chairs6/4/2023: DONE
70The Committee welcomed the steady growth in the number of IODE ADUs and invited organizations that manage oceanographic data currently not involved in IODE, to consider joining IODE as ADUscontinuousOrganizations that manage ocean dataaction by organizations
ONGOING 
82The Committee instructed all IODE projects and invited Member States to contribute research and informational documents to AquaDocscontinuousIODE projects6/4/2023: email sent to all project leads
no action reported
83The Committee invited institutions and organizations, with insufficient capacity to host their own repository, to use AquaDocs.continuousInstitutions and organizationssee 82 
84The Committee recommended that AquaDocs serve as the repository for reports and documents generated by the Decade ActionsAs soon as possibleDCU6/4/2023: sent email to DCU
DONE: documents being entered in AD
109The Committee invited IQuOD to explore cooperation with other IODE projects such as ODIS/OIH, OTGA and othersAs soon as possibleIQuOD, other IODE projectsONGOING
(Discussion between OIH/ODIS with INCOIS ongoing, re linking IQuOD and ODIS)
117The Committee congratulated the network of OBIS nodes and the Secretariat for the important achievements and reiterated its past requests to the IOC Executive Secretary to create a regular programme position for the OBIS data managerJanuary 2024 and continuedIODE Co-ChairsIncluded in UNESCO 42 C/5. Position to be created in 2024
DONE 
124The Committee urged the IODE community to further document their methodologies and best practices and share them in the Ocean Best Practices SystemcontinuousIODE communityONGOING
128The Committee called on Member States to participate in the Ocean InfoHub Project (OIH) to increase the visibility of their data holdings to the world, and to enable improved and more efficient access to global Ocean datacontinuousMember StatesONGOING 
first group of NODCs contacted September 2023
138The Committee expressed its appreciation for the progress made by PacMAN, decided to continue this project and requested Member States to support the Secretariat and partners involved in PacMAN to further build upon and replicate PacMAN in other states, especially developing states and SIDS that are more vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of marine invasive species. This will directly support Member States in implementing target 6 of the recently adopted CBD COP15 Kunming-Montreal 2030 targets, which aims to reduce the introduction of new invasive alien species by 50%, and puts emphasis on priority sites, such as islandscontinuousMember Statesto be reported on by PacMAN project
ONGOING 
151The Committee encouraged that IODE activities should be included in the work plans of the IOC Regional Subsidiary Bodies (RSBs) through active participation of IODE national coordinators (data management and information management), NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in meetings of the RSBs, and requested the IODE Secretariat to contact the regional IOC offices to ensure inclusion of data/information in the agenda of RSB meetingsApril 2023 and
IODE-28
RSBs (IODE Secretariat to contact RSB Secretariats)6/4/2023: email sent to RSB Secretariats
September 2023: discussions being held with IOCARIBE
ONGOING
152The Committee welcomed the offer by NMDIS (China), as ODINWESTPAC Secretariat, to actively participate in OIH/ODIS in preparation for new future arrangements of ODINsAs soon as possibleNMDIS and OIH/ODISTo be reported on by NMDIS and OIH/ODIS
ONGOING 
159The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to (i) further clarify and finetune the naming definitions; (ii) propose the designation of all other IODE activities; and (iii) propose procedures to guide applications for new components, activities and projects, and submit these to the 28th Session of the IODE Committee in 2025(i) 2023
(ii) 2023
(iii) 2024 and by IODE-28
IODE MGONGOING
(See report
164The Committee approved the “Rules of Procedure for IODE Programme Components, Programme Activities or Projects” and instructed all projects to adopt these in their management structure by the next meeting of the IODE Management Group (December 2023/January 2024)IODE MG (Dec 2023/Jan 2024)IODE projectsONGOING
All former projects to report at IODE MG February 2024
165The Committee instructed the Secretariat to publish the “Rules of Procedure for IODE Programme Components, Programme Activities or Projects” in the IOC Manuals and Guides seriesEnd 2023
IODE Secretariat
DONE
25/4/2023: IODE Manuals and Guides No. 91 published
170The Committee instructed the SG-QMF to revise IOC Manuals and Guides No. 67 (IODE Quality Management Framework for National Oceanographic Data Centres and Associate Data Units (Revised edition)) to include the changes to the accreditation processAs soon as possible (2023)SG-QMFDONE
IODE Manuals and Guides No. 67 rev 2 published (2/10/2023) 
171The Committee invited Member States to nominate suitably qualified experts with experience in implementing quality management systems for management of oceanographic data to the SG-QMF for the next intersessional period and instructed the Secretariat to send out the call for experts as soon as possibleAs soon as possibleMember States/ IODE Secretariat17/4/2023: Email sent to IODE NCs for DM and ADUs 
2/8/2023: new membership established
DONE
187The Committee encouraged Member States, NODCs and ADUs to support the development of GO2DAT financially and in-kindcontinuousMember States, NODCs, ADUsno action reported
192The Committee invited NODCs and ADUs, as well as relevant existing regional networks, to participate in the upcoming data collection callsContinuousNODCs, ADUs, regional networksONGOING
to be reported by IOC OSS Secretariat 
197The Committee instructed its Co-Chairs to engage with the OCG Data Strategy Implementation Plan to ensure that it is fit for purpose from the ocean data management community standpointAs soon as possibleIODE Co-ChairsONGOING
to be reported on by IODE Co-Chairs at IODE MG 2024 
198The Committee urged IODE experts to participate in (online) OCG meetingsAs soon as possibleIODE expertsONGOING
to be reported on by IODE Co-Chairs at IODE MG 2024
199The Committee noted with appreciation the ambitious plan for a BioEco Data Portal that is an integrated resource for national, regional and global ocean observing system monitoring and planning, and instructed IODE OBIS to identify the resource needs to fulfil this in a 2023-2025 planning proposalAs soon as possibleIODE/OBIS SecretariatDONE
Covered through EU projects: MARCO-BOLO, BioEcoOcean, DTO-BioFlow
201The Committee took note of the activities undertaken with the TSR (tsunami resilience section) and invited TSR to consider more extensive collaboration through relevant IODE activitiesAs soon as possibleIOC/TSRONGOING
(cooperation with OTGA)
208The Committee noted the concerns expressed by the WESTPAC Secretariat and recommended that discussions should be held between the WESTPAC Member States, NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in that region, to identify needs and possible supporting measuresAs soon as possibleWESTPAC Member States, NODCs, ADUs and AIUs in that regionno action reported
211The Committee urged IOC Member states to work on closer collaboration on interoperability between IOC/IODE OIH/ODIS and WMO WIS 2.0As soon as possibleIOC Member StatesONGOING
(regular cooperation meetings are being held) 
212The Committee instructed the Secretariat to invite WMO to join IODE activities under the Ocean DecadeAs soon as possibleIODE SecretariaONGOING
see 211
216The Committee invited IODE NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to report (as part of the reporting in preparation for IODE Committee meetings) on projects, programmes and other initiatives in which they are involved and relevant to IODEIODE-28NODCs, ADUs and AIUsno action
to be done in preparation for IODE-28 
220The Committee strongly recommended NODCs and ADUs in Europe to consider involving IOC/IODE as a partner in future EU project proposalsIODE-28NODCs, ADUs in Europeongoing
225The Committee proposed that the ASFA Secretariat impact study explores further cooperation between OpenASFA and AquaDocs assessing the impact on user communities and identifying any actions to support SDGs, the Ocean Decade and joint market opportunitiesAs neededASFAONGOING
(ODIS is in the process of linking to OpenASFA. As of 25 Oct this was basically completed but not indexed yet)
227The Committee recommended IODE and IAMSLIC to continue their relationship and create a new MOU of activities of mutual interest, including the provision of ongoing support by IOC/IODE and IAMSLIC to ensure the continuity of the AquaDocs RepositoryAs soon as possible
IODE, IAMSLIC
done
no new MoU established. AquaDocs hosting cost shared by IODE and IAMSLIC (October 2023) 
237The Committee instructed the IODE Co-Chairs to prepare a brief statement for the 32nd Session of the IOC Assembly (June 2023) on the outcome of IODC2April 2023IODE Co-ChairsDONE 
238The Committee instructed the IODE Management Group to prepare a proposal on the way forward to take the recommendations from IODC1 and IODC2 into consideration in the work plan of IODE during the next inter-sessional period (April 2023 – March 2025) as well as in the preparations for IODE-XXVIII2023IODE MGNo action
267The Committee encouraged NODCs/ADUs/AIUs to explore ways and opportunities to streamline their CD activities utilizing the Ocean CD-HubContinuousNODCs, ADUs, AIUsno action reported
271The Committee instructed the working group (to draft the new structure of the IODE web site), to restart the discussions on the restructuring of the website and the IODE Secretariat to proceed with the redevelopment by end of 2023End of 2023working group to draft the new structure of the IODE web siteONGOING
new web site to be launched January 2024 
295The Committee urged IODE NODCs, ADUs and AIUs to also submit projects, preferably as IODE actions or including IODE as a “partner” in projectsContinuousNODCs, ADUs, AIUsno action reported
296The Committee invited the IODE World Ocean Database (WOD) project to submit a Decade Action proposal via the IODE SecretariatAs soon as possibleWOD projectWOD project
DONE
submission 20/9/2023 
297The Committee requested the DCU to keep the IODE Secretariat updated on any funding opportunities for the submitted Decade Actions and instructed the IODE Secretariat to update the IODE Management Group and IODE Committee on progress in this regardcontinuousDCU, IODE Secretariatno action reported by DCU 
300The Committee instructed the “IODE Intersessional Working Group (IWG) to identify the IODE contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)” to focus its work on elements 2 and 3 of its terms of referenceIODE-28IWG to identify the IODE contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)”no action 
301The Committee welcomed the numerous submissions of Decade Actions by IODE and involvement in several other Decade Actions but called on the DCU for pro-active action to attract funding to enable the implementation of the submitted actionscontinuousDCU
see 297 
302The Committee called for the Decade’s more active participation in IODE programme elements such as ODIS, OBIS, OTGA and others as these can all contribute substantially to the data and information requirements of the DecadecontinuousDCUONGOING
307The Committee instructed the IODE Co-Chairs to contact the IOC Executive Secretary and DCU management to inform them about the potential benefits of OceanExpert to the Ocean Decade and extend the offer againAs soon as possibleIODE Co-ChairsONGOING
(IODE Co-chairs contacting IOC Exec Sec and DCU in October/ November 23)
317The IODE Committee, taking into account the 2022 events and their global impact, decided (i) not to proceed with the establishment of the IODE Partnership Centre for ODIS during the next inter-sessional period and (ii) to consider this matter again at the 28th Session of the IODE Committee in 2025IODE-28IODE Committeeto be discussed at IODE-28
338The Committee called on Member States to participate in the Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS), the Ocean InfoHub Project (OIH) and OceanData-2030 to increase the visibility of their data and information holdings to the world, and to enable improved and more efficient access to global Ocean data and informationContinuousMember SatesONGOING
to be reported on by IOH/ODIS at MG2024 
344The Committee called on UNESCO Member States to approve one of the Base Case scenarios noting that the ZNG scenario would bring IODE below the minimum level of viability2023UNESCO Member StatesONGOING
substantial budget increase requested in 42 C/5, requested by UNESCO Executive Board to UNESCO General Conference (November 2023) 
352The Committee urged the IOC Executive Secretary to provide additional staff to IODE2024IODE Co-ChairsDONE
additional P-3 to be established in 2024 (see  117)
354The Committee called on Member States, philanthropic organizations or private companies to consider seconding, either at the IOC Project Office for IODE, in Oostende, Belgium or in-kind (working from their usual place of work) in order to strengthen the IODE SecretariatContinuousMember States, philanthropic organizations or private companiesno action reported 
358The Committee thanked the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for their support as an essential contribution to the resources needed by the IODE Programme, and called on the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) and VLIZ to continue their support2024Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium)ONGOING
proposals to be submitted in 2024 when next FUST is established. 
360The Committee strongly urged IOC Member States to follow the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) example and establish structural funding agreements to support IODE.ContinuousIOC Member StatesONGOING
(agreement being discussed with NORAD)
361The Committee called on its members and parent institutions to involve IODE in any project proposal that includes data or information management elementsContinuousIODE Committee members and parent institutionsno action reported
366The Committee requested that relevant events should be included in the OceanExpert calendar.ContinuousIODE Committee members and IODE SecretariatONGOING, based on information received 
367The Committee invited IOC regional offices to inform the IODE Secretariat on relevant events in their regionContinuousIOC regional officesONGOING 
368The Committee recommended to the Ocean Decade Strategic Communication Group, to promote the importance of data and information inviting IODE and to join with the Ocean Decade events, among others, in which the Ocean Science community participatesContinuousOcean Decade Strategic Communication GroupONGOING 
372The Committee adopted the work plan and budget for the next inter-sessional period and invited Member States to provide additional support to IODE.ContinuousMember Statesno support received 
376The Committee instructed the Secretariat to send out a Circular Letter to invite additional members of the Inter-sessional working group on the review of IODE structure and working methodsAs soon as possibleIODE SecretariatONGOING
preliminary discussions in April 2023. No further action.
397The Committee requested its Co-Chairs and the IODE Secretariat to make editorial corrections as necessary, taking into account the discussions held during the sessionAs soon as possibleIODE SecretariatDONE 
398The Committee requested the IODE Co-Chairs to present the Executive Summary to the Thirty Second Session of the IOC Assembly that would take place in June 2023IOC-32 (June 2023)IODE Co-ChairsDONE