Social and economic data management

Summary

Topic Paper 2 – INTERREG IV A France (Channel) – England Project.

The need for high-quality data relating to the marine environment has never been greater. National and international legislation and directives depend upon best available evidence to designate marine protected areas or report on the environmental status of our seas. The marine sector has made excellent progress in collating and standardising environmental marine data however, an understanding of human activities and pressures on the marine environment is also central to successful marine planning and conservation activities. These activities and pressures data are often omitted or, if collected, managed by disparate organisations and therefore difficult to collate. Until very recently, large EU data initiatives such as SeaDataNet1 and EMODNet2 have largely ignored marine social and economic data, yet many of the challenges faced are common.These relate to effective description of data, its availability, format and exchange.