Oceanography | Vol. 38, No. 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE ON
A VISION FOR CAPACITY SHARING
IN THE OCEAN SCIENCES
By Ellen S. Kappel, Brian K. Arbic, Johanna Diwa-Acallar, Nicolas Moity, José Muelbert, Frank Muller-Karger,
Nubi Olubunmi Ayoola, Digna Rueda-Roa, and Aileen Tan Shau Hwai
International scientifc capacity build-
ing eforts form the foundation for global
sustainable solutions to social, economic,
and environmental challenges (Harden-
Davies et al., 2022; Miloslavich et al.,
2022). Te following description appears
in a 2008 report from the National
Research Council:
Capacity-building
describes
programs
designed to strengthen the knowledge, abil-
ities, relationships, and values that enable
organizations, groups, and individuals
to reach their goals for sustainable use of
ocean and coastal resources. It includes
strengthening the institutions, processes,
systems, and rules that infuence collective
and individual behavior and performance
in all related endeavors. Capacity-building
also enhances people’s ability to make
informed choices and fosters their willing-
ness to play new developmental roles and
adapt to new challenges. Capacity is about
more than potential; it harnesses potential
through robust programs to make progress
in addressing societal needs and is funda-
mental to fostering environmental stew-
ardship and improving the management of
ocean and coastal areas and resources.
Capacity
building
eforts
require
co-design and coordination for efec-
tive monitoring, modeling, and applica-
tions at local scales in a way that allows
synthesis of information to address
global- scale issues (e.g., Bax et al., 2018).
Yet, the resources needed to conduct
ocean science—including observational
equipment, internet, and computational
resources, and the capacity to train the
next generation—are not evenly distrib-
uted globally. Tis unequal, patchy distri-
bution of resources hinders the develop-
ment of practical, science-based solutions
to some of the most challenging ocean
problems facing the world population.
Additional barriers to successful global
capacity building include fragmented
training and education programs that are
typically too short to achieve long-term
benefts. Lack of coordination hinders the
sharing of information and experience
and may reduce the likelihood of long-
term support (NRC, 2008). Low- and
middle- income countries are also ofen
ill- equipped to share data according to
FAIR (fndable, accessible, interoperable,
reusable) data principles, making it dif-
cult to include and interpret any data col-
lected. In this special issue, Mahu et al.
describe barriers that must be overcome
in West Africa, in particular, to strengthen
ocean science capacity in that region.
Note that while we use the term
“capacity building” above to describe the
activities related to training and educat-
ing, we use the term “capacity sharing”
in our special issue title to acknowl-
edge that the act of building capacity is
a shared efort. All partners in a capac-
ity sharing efort bring expertise and help
to train others in becoming active part-
ners in the global ocean sustainability
efort. Capacity sharing also acknowl-
edges that local knowledge and tradi-
tions can inform how a capacity building
team works toward sustainability goals
(Miloslavich et al., 2022).
SPECIAL ISSUE CONTENT
Tis special issue of Oceanography on
A Vision for Capacity Sharing in the
Ocean Sciences aims to (1) describe
the global benefts of sustained capac-
ity sharing in ocean science, technology,
and applications; (2) identify the barriers
to capacity sharing; (3) share best prac-
tices on how to build and sustain capac-
ity sharing programs, including lessons
learned by those who have led such pro-
grams; (4) highlight the importance of
capacity sharing to jobs and the economy;
and (5) identify synergies among exist-
ing and new capacity- sharing programs,
including those formed through the
UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustain-
able Development (2021–2030), the Sci-
entifc Committee on Oceanic Research
(SCOR), the Partnership for Observa-
tion of the Global Ocean (POGO), and
the International Oceanographic Data
and Information Exchange (IODE) of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Com-
mission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO).
Te intent of the special issue articles is
to be comprehensive in listing all possi-
ble capacity building and capacity shar-
ing eforts that may have existed or that
are ofered. Rather, our most import-
ant objective is to provide readers with
a valuable resource for developing,
improving, coordinating, implementing,
and promoting capacity sharing pro-
grams in the ocean sciences globally.
We welcome leadership among capacity
building programs to connect, share, and
coordinate on curriculum development
and content of relevant courses.