The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is a network of European organisations working together to observe the oceans, to make the collected marine data freely available and interoperable, to create seamless data layers across sea-basins and to distribute the data and data products through the Internet. The primary aim of EMODnet is to unlock existing but fragmented and hidden marine data and make them accessible for a wide range of users including private bodies, public authorities and researchers.
The EU4Ocean Coalition connects diverse organisations, projects and people that contribute to Ocean Literacy and the sustainable management of the ocean. Supported by the European Commission, this bottom-up inclusive initiative aims at uniting the voices of Europeans to make the ocean a concern of everyone. The coalition is made up of three components: the EU4Ocean Platform for organisations and individuals, the Youth4Ocean Forum for young people aged 16 to 30 years old and the Network of European Blue Schools.
In the first EU4Ocean project which ran from June 2020 to June2022, Seascape Belgium led the development, maintenance and expansion of the EU4Ocean Platform. This included the management of stakeholder interactions and membership relations. Seascape Belgium also facilitated the contribution of the Platform members to EU4Ocean Coalition events and activities such as the EU4Ocean summit and sea-basin events. Seascape Belgium supported communications activities, amongst other actions, with the development of maps of the EU4Ocean communities in the European Atlas of the Seas. The Atlas was also promoted as a tool to help schools within the Network of European Blue Schools develop their projects. A successor three years EU4Ocean project started in December 2022, with the objectives to further expand the EU4Ocean Coalition, scale-up its activities and develop new joint Ocean Literacy initiatives. In this framework, Seascape Belgium will pursue its work to further develop the EU4Ocean Platform.
For more information, please see eu-oceanliteracy.eu.