Click on the entries below to read more and find a PDF summary report for the MARCO-BOLO workshops.
The panel highlighted the urgent need for stronger collaboration across science, policy, and global regions to realise the potential of the Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). There was broad agreement that while technological capabilities are advancing rapidly, the institutional, financial, and social structures required to support them remain fragile and uneven.
Read the report here: Making the Digital Twin of the Ocean fit for Ocean Governance
The first Community of Practice (CoP) event was organised jointly with the first CoP co-design/co-creation workshop on the 23 May 2024. The event represented both generators and users of marine biodiversity data, products, and services in the EU and beyond. It brought together over 70 experts and stakeholders in marine, freshwater and coastal biodiversity data.
The 2nd Co-design/Co-creation Workshop of the MARCO-BOLO project took place on the 6 November 2024 in Sitges (Spain). The workshop brought together approximately 50 participants, including representatives from the JRC, DG MARE, DG ENV, and various national institutions responsible for biodiversity monitoring across EU Member States. Under the title: Solutions for Improving Marine Biodiversity Monitoring, the main objective of this Workshop was to showcase effective solutions to address some of the challenges faced by generators and users of marine biodiversity data.
This was the 3rd mobilisation of MARCO-BOLO’s Community of Practice (CoP) representing generators and users of marine biodiversity data, products and services in the EU and internationally.
After a general introduction to the Work Package 1 activities and goals the requirements on each WP were explained and demonstrated using the shared Google Sheets for correct internal data and information management plan.
In accordance with its initial Data Management Plan, the MARCO-BOLO project has implemented a functional system for data and information exchange with external partners, particularly through its integration with the Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS), coordinated by the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of UNESCO-IOC.
As of June 2024, MARCO-BOLO officially became an ODIS Node, marking the first time a project-level initiative was indexed in the ODIS Graph. This indexing event is publicly traceable via the ODIS Dashboard: http://dashboard.odis.org/
→ Use the “ODIS Node Summary” widget and search for “MARCO-BOLO”.
Work Package (WP) 3 “Linking Land and Sea Biodiversity Observation” is focused on advancing our understanding of biodiversity change and the drivers and pressures thereof along a land-to-sea continuum, specifically their interrelations in freshwater, transitional, coastal and marine ecosystems across Europe. In order to test and validate workflows of existing biodiversity and environmental EU monitoring programs (e.g.,WFD, MSFD, H&B Directives, RIs) we selected four land-river-sea systems across Europe: Elbe – North Sea, Po – Adriatic Sea, Danube – Black Sea and Guadalquivir – Atlantic Ocean.
Milestone 4 aims to engage stakeholders interested in biodiversity observation technologies to ensure that the tools developed in Tasks 4.1 (biodiversity technologies and automated annotation) and Task 4.3 (sensor data networking and reporting) are fit for purpose and address the needs of users. To ensure that user needs and perspectives are considered throughout the project, an informal community of practice (CoP) of generators and users of marine biodiversity data has been established under Work Package 6. In order to engage the potential user communities of the CoP, Work Package 4 has presented expected products at two co-design workshops organized by WP6.
MARCO-BOLO Stakeholder Presentation on New Observing Tools and Methodologies, Summary Report
A virtual workshop was held on the 5th of April 2024 to discuss the workflows that will be created for key analytical processes as part of MARCO-BOLO Work Package 5, which centres on Modelling & Mapping Coastal and Marine Biodiversity. The workshop was organised by VLIZ and LifeWatch ERIC and saw the participation of all collaborating partners.
In preparation of the WP2/WP5 joint workshop, a Data Analysis Challenge was launched on the 23rd of August, inviting members of the eDNA community to participate in analysing phytoplankton and fish eDNA datasets using their preferred bioinformatic pipelines. A virtual workshop was held on the 7th and 8th of October 2024 with MARCO-BOLO WP2 and WP5 collaborators to process and analyse all the submitted data files and to discuss the next steps for calculating Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) & Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) metrics, as well as Marine Strategic Framework Directive (MSFD) indicators.
Coming soon
The first Community of Practice event took place on Thursday, 23 May 2024 (online), and the meeting minutes were shared internally, within the MARCO-BOLO consortium.
The final Community of Practice event will take place in 2026
The related project maps can be found on the website here: Mapping of MARCO-BOLO related projects