This Annex describes the process and methodology applied to improve the structure and user functionality of the existing Global Ocean Data Inventory, including an overview of the datasets covered by the updated Inventory.

I.1 Consultation on user needs

To ensure the user relevance of the updated Inventory, the restructuring was guided by a consultation on user needs. Six bilateral consultation meetings were held with different GOAP members and countries working on ocean accounts. The consultation encompassed GOAP pilot studies and other ocean accounting efforts from different regions of the world and at various stages of implementation. Meetings were held with contacts in Viet Nam, Indonesia, Fiji, Canada, United Kingdom, and at the Centre for Sustainable Oceans at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (who provided input from three GOAP ocean accounts pilots in South Africa, Mozambique and Kenya).

The consultation highlighted a number of key criteria and information that are important or useful to countries when considering datasets for ocean accounts. These include:

• Spatial resolution of the data.

• Temporal resolution of the data, including availability of long-term time series, reference periods, timeliness of data provision and frequency of updates.

• Data accuracy and limitations, including errors, ground truthing and assumptions made in data production.

• Clear metadata to enable interpretability of the data, including production methodology and data standards.

• Access to raw data and to easy to use, accounting-ready data.

• Easy access and use, including information on how to get to the data, whether datasets are available in open access formats, downloadability, use restrictions and costs.

• Case study experiences from application of the data.

Suggestions were also made on account components and asset types that would be useful to cover in the Inventory. Following discussions with countries, carbon accounts and produced assets were added to the scope of the Inventory. Information was also added to distinguish between coastal and marine ecosystems.

During the consultation discussions, questions were raised on reference levels for good ecosystem condition, links of ecosystem condition to ecosystem function and services, as well as the suitability of global ocean asset datasets for modelling. While beyond the scope of the current Inventory update and user Guide, these questions provide relevant pointers for future work to support ocean accounts.

Following the consultation meetings, the Inventory structure was updated, and a draft was shared with the contacts for feedback. Comments received were integrated into the final restructuring.

I.2 Updating the Inventory structure

The aim of updating the structure of the Inventory was to improve its useability and relevance. To achieve this, the information in the original version was reorganised and new columns were added to capture more details about the datasets. Ensuring that the identified user needs are addressed was a key consideration when determining the information to be included. The Inventory is structured around a) key data needs for physical asset accounts and b) generally established data quality assessment criteria for national statistics. The updated structure is intended to provide national ocean account compilers with information that enables them to rapidly assess the relevance, utility, strengths and weaknesses of each dataset for their particular national context.

To select the criteria for the updated Inventory structure, different existing data quality assessment frameworks were also reviewed. The review included the data inventory for the Geographe Marine Park ocean accounting pilot in Australia, Statistics Canada’s data quality took kit, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and ENCORE. From these frameworks, the most commonly used criteria were selected as the basis for the Inventory. The selection of commonly used criteria should ensure that the criteria used for the Inventory are widely agreed and that the Inventory aligns with other data assessment frameworks and accounting data standards. The selected criteria are:

1. Relevance: Is the dataset relevant for different national ocean asset accounting requirements?

2. Interpretability: Is information available to enable correct interpretation of the dataset?

3. Institutional environment: Is the production and provision of the dataset impartial, objective and authoritative?

4. Accuracy: Is the dataset reliable, valid and consistent?

5. Accessibility: Is the dataset easy to access and use? Are there any use restrictions?

Each of the five high-level criteria is broken down into a set of sub-criteria. Key data requirements for ocean asset accounts and identified user needs are integrated into these sub-criteria, including spatial resolution, temporal resolution and timeliness, and data format. The information provided should enable the user to decide whether a dataset is of suitable quality for their specific context.

To improve the useability of the Inventory, more functionality was also added to the Inventory. The updated Inventory is available in Excel, which allows to filter for specific datasets. A ‘How to use’ tab provides instructions for using the two interactive filter menus that allow to pre-select the datasets shown in the ‘Inventory’ tab. Standardised entries and dropdown lists were applied as much as possible to improve the searchability of the Inventory. An Appendix tab provides explanations of the information provided in the different columns.

I.3 Updates to the Inventory datasets

The initial, 2019 version of the OCEAN ACCOUNTS Global Ocean Data Inventory listed 138 entries covering datasets, portals and other resources relevant to ocean ecosystem extent, ecosystem condition, designated use, assets, service supply, service use, as well as ecosystem typologies. By identifying and describing a broad range of global datasets relevant to ocean accounts, the original inventory provided a valuable resource for early national ocean pilot accounts.

The updated Inventory is focused on datasets for ocean assets following the typology described in Chapter 2.2 of the Guide and puts a greater emphasis on providing metadata for datasets. Ecosystem service supply and use, as well as ecosystem typologies are not included in this version. Data portals and repositories identified during the search for global ocean asset datasets and are listed in a separate tab in the Inventory (see ‘Portals, Repositories’ tab).

The updated Inventory provides 172 resources in total. Eleven duplicates from the previous inventory were removed, and “non-specific classifications” that did not link to any ocean account component were replaced or removed. Approximately 40 new resources were added, and metadata entries were standardized and updated for easier usability.

The new Inventory presents 88 datasets for seven distinct account components, and 84 data portals and repositories. The 88 datasets cover 59 different ocean asset types or conditions. Table 3 gives an overview of the number of datasets per account component and ocean asset.

Table 3 (repeated): Overview of the number of datasets in the updated Global Ocean Asset Data Inventory by account component and ocean asset (type/condition)

The largest number of global datasets are available for ecosystem condition and extent. These datasets represent a variety of different ecosystems, including seagrasses, mangroves, warm-water coral reefs, cold-water corals, saltmarshes and tidal flats. Some ecosystems missing from the Inventory, for which no global datasets could be found, are beaches, coastal dunes, seaweed and deep-sea habitats. All ocean asset types and conditions covered in the Inventory are listed in Table 5.

For other account components, including individual environmental assets, produced assets and designated use, only 2-3 datasets were identified during the current update. It may be that further data exists that was not found with the resources available for this update. It may also be that these gaps in the Inventory point to gaps in availability of global data of relevance to ocean asset accounts. For example, for designated use, the Inventory includes spatial data for marine protected areas, whereas other uses such as shipping lanes, fishing zones, or deep-sea mining zones are not covered. For individual environmental assets, only petroleum and plankton data were identified, while no data was found on other minerals or energy resources, coastal timer resources, or aquatic resources. For produced assets, only wind farms and oil and gas platforms were included; data on wrecks, cables, urban development or artificial reefs were not found.

Table 5: Ocean asset types and conditions per account component listed in the Global Ocean Asset Data Inventory