CASPINFO

CASPIAN ENVIRONMENTAL AND INDUSTRIAL DATA & INFORMATION SERVICE

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'CASPINFO aims at strengthening the regional capacity and performance of marine environmental data & information management, and adoption of international meta-data standards and data-management practices, involving stakeholders from management, research, and industry. The objectives are: • To initiate and maintain a Caspian Sea network of leading environmental and socio-economic research institutes, governmental departments, oil & gas industries, and international bodies, jointly working on the definition, development and operation of the CASPINFO service. • Development and establishment of an Internet based CASPINFO Data & Information Service to facilitate the access to socio-economic and legal information, metadata and distributed datasets, managed by the regional partners, and to support marine environmental management. • To explore and to develop a sustainable operation model for the CASPINFO service, thereby taking into account that the partners are coming from different backgrounds (public and private sectors) and possibly will deal with a mix of public and commercial data & information. Improved access to high quality, up-to-date environmental, economic, social and industrial (meta-) data and information, is a key issue. The CASPINFO data & information service will serve as a repository for relevant, available marine environmental and industrial (meta-) data and serve as an important instrument for marine environmental scientists, oil & gas industry and other marine industries, governmental decision makers and managers and the general public. Interoperability and harmonisation with other European systems are key conditions. CASPINFO will zoom in on the environment, but moreover on supporting assessments of impacts and effectiveness of measures concerning oil & gas industry activities, which are of great economic importance to the region. CASPINFO will also be promoted to other marine industries, that might benefit from the service.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

International scientists joined forces to develop an information service for the Caspian Sea region. Access to standardised data should facilitate economic development with low environmental impact.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The Caspian Sea is the largest land-locked body of water on Earth. It has a unique marine ecosystem that is facing growing pressure from over-fishing, pollution, and oil and gas-related activities. The five countries bordering the Sea are Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. They are characterised by different political and social systems facing a similar struggle to re-establish effective administrative and economic systems. Importantly, they also share a desire to protect the natural heritage of the Caspian Sea.

A major consortium of concerned scientists initiated the EU-funded project 'Caspian environmental and industrial data & information service' (CASPINFO). Their aim was to strengthen the data building and management capacity required by stakeholders to meet the region's challenges by producing a definition of the system requirements. For this purpose, scientists formed a network of stakeholders including marine environmentalists, policymakers, the gas and oil industry, and international organisations. Excellent cooperation resulted in the creation of repositories with up-to-date socioeconomic, legal and scientific data and metadata. It also led to mutual understanding and respect between industry and environmentalists regarding practices for reducing negative impact on the environment.

Ensuring compatibility with other marine projects and data systems is a major boon for international research as well as local communities. Protocols, standards and formats followed those of the EU Framework Programme (FP) projects SEADATANET and BLACK SEA SCENE to include the Caspian Sea. However, this project is unique as it also includes non-environmental information. The locations of gas and oil installations, legal aspects such as licensing and socioeconomic data from public and private entities all relevant to marine ecosystem management set a paradigm certain to be of interest to other areas.

CASPINFO has provided a critical and up-to-date data repository of information relevant to the Caspian Sea, and created a viable and productive network of stakeholders. Stakeholders are now able to face the growing challenges of preserving a fragile ecosystem, while maintaining competitiveness of associated industries important to regional economies.