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from vertebrates and other large animals (mostly fish, mammals, and birds), while it
is known that most of the species are smaller invertebrates (crustacea, worms, mol-
luscs).ThecoastalwatersintheNorthernHemispherearethebest-sampled,but~95%
of the vast midwaters (the open ocean, Earth's largest habitat by volume) is mostly
unexplored. In addition, historical records (most data are from post 1960) and long-
term time series (>10 years) are scarce.
OBIS contributes to the protection of marine ecosystems by assisting in identi-
fying marine biodiversity hot spots and large-scale ecological patterns. The system is
used extensively by the research community and plays a crucial role in providing sci-
entific and technical guidance and data and information for the identification of Eco-
logically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas under the CBD. Among the areas
mentioned,somearerenownedforcontaining'hiddentreasures',suchastheSargasso
Sea, the Tonga Archipelago, and key corals sites off the coast of Brazil. This work
is conducted in the framework of the UN Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,
and in particular Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, to conserve and sustainably manage at
least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020, as agreed upon by the Conference of
the Parties to the CBD in Nagoya in 2010.
OBIS will also contribute to regular assessments under the Intergovernmental
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and to the World Ocean
Assessment.
While the developments presented above are promising, including information and data
on marine biodiversity free-of-access to all, a sense of urgency remains. There is a critical
need to be fully aware and to act in relation to the demonstrated impacts and related effects
of human-induced changes in the oceans, especially in relation to climate change and to the
biodiversity crisis, as convincingly presented in Chapters 3 , 4 , and 5 of this topic. There
is also a need to fully realize the economic and societal values of the ecosystem services
provided by the oceans (cf. Chapters 2 and 7 ) .
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