News

13th session of the OBIS Steering Group - A community-first workplan for 2026-2027 to support the next development phase

22 December 2025

Participants in the 13th session of the IODE Steering Group for OBIS


The 13th session of the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) Steering Group for OBIS provided an opportunity for the OBIS Community to co-design the 2026–2027 workplan. The new governance model, implemented in 2024, ensured broad participation and representation, both in the Coordination Groups meetings and the Steering Group committee, in person and remotely. Reflecting this collective approach, the 2026–2027 OBIS workplan includes deliverables that operationalise the new Strategic Objectives while supporting the OBIS Community.

A substantive part of the workplan focuses on reinforcing OBIS’s technical foundation.

This includes refining the operating modes of the three Coordination Groups to improve efficiency and ensure that all voices across the OBIS Community have the opportunity to contribute equally (Deliverables 4.1 and 4.2). Dedicated collaborative activities, such as workshops and targeted discussions, will accelerate progress on identified critical technical priorities and needs, including the adoption of key data standards (Deliverable 5.1), advancing Darwin Core-Data Package practices jointly with GBIF (Deliverable 5.3), implementing eDNA guidelines with associated training plans (Deliverable 5.5), and enhancing WoRMS taxon annotation workflows (Deliverable 5.2). Additional actions focus on improving validation tools, vocabularies, and archiving practices (DCG task list under Outcome 4), and formalising collaboration with the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) on monitoring delivery of the biological and Ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (Deliverable 5.4).

The workplan develops the infrastructure’s ability to deliver high-quality, actionable marine biodiversity information.

A key element is the operational deployment of the OBIS Product Catalogue, including new metadata fields that indicate the policy frameworks supported by each product (Deliverables 7.1–7.4). The workplan also introduces a national-level policy pilot to demonstrate how OBIS data products, such as species richness layers and species distribution models, can inform biodiversity strategies at multiple scales (Deliverable 8.1).

The rollout of the Product Catalogue, including the development of policy-relevant metadata extensions, will improve the OBIS Community’s ability to deliver structured, ready-to-use tools, indicators, maps, and dashboards answering marine conservation, monitoring, and management needs. The introduction of JupyterHub-supported workflows will further enable reproducible, community-generated products, enhancing OBIS’s capacity to provide operational biodiversity data services (PCG activities under Outcome 7).

Capacity development and community empowerment remain central pillars.

At the Node level, efforts will focus on facilitating Node-to-Node communication through an updated Coordination Group meeting structure designed to provide all Nodes with more space to present, discuss, and collaborate (Deliverable 1.2). A renewed OBIS Pulse Newsletter (Deliverable 1.3) will further support horizontal communication. The Secretariat will co-design a communication toolkit with the Nodes to help them engage funders and host institutions, as well as increase visibility of OBIS activities and impact (Deliverable 2.1). Additional actions include an onboarding roadmap for new Nodes (Deliverable 3.1), an operational peer-based support framework for all Nodes (Deliverable 3.2), and a mechanism to capture recurring capacity-related questions in an FAQ (Deliverable 3.3). To ensure greater visibility and accessibility of community expertise, the workplan also introduces the creation of a Node Knowledge Repository documenting skills, tools, and processes across the OBIS Community (Deliverable 3.4).

The OBIS workplan for 2026-2027 is ambitious. It consolidates OBIS’s position as the leading global marine biodiversity data infrastructure, while expanding the range and quality of services delivered to society. The workplan translates OBIS’s new strategic vision into a coherent and implementable set of actions that connects infrastructure development, decision support, policy alignment, operational services delivery, and community empowerment. Together, these components will strengthen OBIS’s readiness to meet the growing global demand for accessible, reliable, and policy-ready marine biodiversity information.