During the 49th Meeting of the Committee of the Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA 49), in Noumea, New Caledonia, members were able to learn about the Pacific Data Hub. This took place during an interactive session on the Monday 17th, June.
SPC is the custodian of a large and diverse collection of data from key sectors, including population statistics, fisheries, geoscience, agriculture, aquaculture, energy, health, education, human rights, climate change and oceans. SPC also plays a critical role in the compilation, management and dissemination of the Pacific Sustainable Development Indicators to assist countries in meeting SDG reporting requirements.
One of the key challenges in the Pacific however, is connecting decision makers with this data, information and knowledge, which they require for effective evidence-based policy development. In the past, across SPC, and within the region, there have been a whole range of data portals and websites disseminating data, as well as enormous quantities of data sitting on office hard-drives. It is sometimes inconsistently managed, doesn’t always adhere to metadata standards, and most of all is hard to find.
In 2018, SPC chose to pool resources across several different web portal projects with the aim of developing a shared centralised platform that would not only meet the needs of SPC divisions but all Pacific data producers and users. The Pacific Data Hub was createdwith the aim of establishing a sustainable data infrastructure to catalogue Pacific datasets, improve data management and policy, and encourage informed decision making using this data.
The Pacific Data Hub isn’t designed to subsume all other sites, but rather act as a catalogue providing well-structured and documented access to datasets within the large ecosystem of SPC websites and services and also within the regional ecosystem of portals and sites. Where data doesn’t belong on an existing online database or portal, it can be hosted directly on the Pacific Data Hub.
The Pacific Data Hub will provide support for the protection of the rights of data owners and advocate for responsible and ethical use of data, while encouraging robust data governance and data sharing agreements.
Useful link:
Pacific Data Hub
