This webinar originally aired on July 1, 2014.

The availability and appropriate use of marine and coastal data form the foundation of effective decision-making. The United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre recently released a manual that provides an overview of global marine and coastal datasets of biodiversity importance. The intention is to address the fragmented information and guidance for users of marine data. Although not exhaustive, this review has resulted in the identification of 78 datasets and/or databases and data portals. The report also includes detailed standardised metadata for 45 of these reviewed datasets (annex 3). This webinar will present the manual and discuss the various challenges, gaps and limitations presented by coastal and marine data. Download the manual at http://wcmc.io/01fc (Annex 3: http://wcmc.io/d6a1).

This webinar was presented by Corinne Martin of UNEP WCMC and it was co-sponsored by the EBM Tools Network.