1.1 Background
1.1.1 The Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)
There are now three "global observing systems" that, although separate, derive from much the same heritage and share some common goals and principles. Together they provide a means of obtaining a total global picture of the state of the environment of the planet Earth. The first, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), deals with climate and climate related aspects of the global environment. The second, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), deals with all ocean and coastal aspects. The third, the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), deals with terrestrial aspects, including both natural and managed ecosystems. GTOS is the most recently established of the three, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and supported by a Secretariat located in FAO offices in Rome.
The overall GTOS Implementation Plan (1998) lays out the elements of the GTOS programme and assigns levels of priority to the activities to be undertaken. The management of data and information, from data collection through to the production of information products for policy and decision making, is clearly a key element of GTOS and, in response to this imperative, there are a number of activities identified as "very important to be acted upon as quickly as possible". These include the development of a GTOS Data and Information Plan, and the development and implementation of a number of data-related policies. This document is a response to those priorities.
1.1.2 Joint Data and Information Panel (JDIMP)
In 1994, the Joint Scientific and Technical Committee (JSTC) of GCOS established a Data and Information Management Panel (DIMP) to formulate, implement and oversee the GCOS data and information management systems. Recognising the need for a unified approach to cross-cutting issues, the steering committees of the three observing systems broadened the remit of the Panel to be a joint body - the Joint Data and Information Panel (JDIMP) - with active participation of representatives of GOOS and GTOS. The Joint Panel met first in 1997 and concluded that, although there are clearly useful roles for a single overarching Panel, many data and information management issues at a technical level are specific to the type of observations being made and nature of the phenomena being observed. Thus the transition to a Joint Panel is not automatic and considerable revision of materials developed to date is needed.
Specifically, although the original GCOS DIMP had drafted a GCOS Data and Information Management Plan, that cannot be simply extended to serve GOOS and GTOS. The production of an overall plan for the three systems has now begun, but with every expectation that this will establish general philosophy and common principles, and recognise that there must be individual plans for each Observing System, providing extensions and additions relevant to their differing requirements.
1.2 Purpose and Scope
This document defines the context and confirms the overall principles which serve to guide GTOS data and information management. It identifies proposed policies and, further, presents an implementation path, including proposed actions and processes required to move towards practical operations in the future.
For each major element of the Data and Information Plan the actions required are defined. These are brought together in an integrated plan for implementation that lays out a recommended approach and defines specific tasks required.
It should be noted that the principles and policies identified will evolve relatively slowly over time, requiring infrequent update as conditions change, whereas the work programme elements will change more quickly as implementation proceeds. It is expected that the policy content of this document and the guidelines developed through recommended actions will eventually be incorporated into a GTOS Data and Information Management Handbook, separate from frequently up-dated action plans.
This Data and Information Management Plan is limited in scope to GTOS, although it is prepared in the context of the broader JDIMP planning.
1.3 Strategic Guiding Principles
The GTOS Plan contains a series of Guiding Principles, six of which relate to data and information management. They are:
1. Data products produced through GTOS have enhanced value to users because they result from related focused inputs from more than one GTOS participating network.
2. Data produced through GTOS are high quality, compatible, comparable, reliable and can be used with confidence by policy-making and decision-making bodies, international programmes, and the scientific community.
3. GTOS aims to distribute data in an unrestricted manner to encourage free flow of data and information between GTOS data providers, GTOS data processors, and GTOS data users, while respecting the rights of sovereign nations in this regard.
4. Recognising that a diversity of data collection methods are available, wherever possible suitable, practical, proven and cost-effective methods for data acquisition, data management, and data analysis are encouraged by GTOS.
5. GTOS data are of selected variables chosen to meet specific user needs, and are made available to users in forms, including transformations and derivations, appropriate to those needs.
6. On-going GTOS programme actions are taken to help close known data and information gaps relevant to the priority areas of GTOS.
These principles at the strategic level set the stage upon which more specific principles and policies can be developed as a basis for a Data and Information Management Plan. These are elaborated in the subsequent sections.
