The Barcelona Convention, and its instrument the Protocol for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), entered into force in 2011 with the goal of defining a set of common principles to achieve sustainable development of the coast along Mediterranean countries. Among other challenges derived from the implementation in the Member States is the need of a framework based on a governance platform to support countries in this process. In this context in 2010 the European Commission Framework Programme 7 for research funded a significant project called PEGASO, whose main goal was to construct such ICZM Governance Platform as a bridge between scientist and end-user communities. One of key elements of the Platform was the development of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and a set of sustainability assessment tools required for making multi-scale integrated assessments in the coastal zone. The SDI was based in a network of local geonodes in order to deliver a Mediterranean and Black Sea harmonised sets of data accessible through a dedicated web-based Geoportal. This paper describes the development of the infrastructure, the process of integrating data from diverse formats and nature, and the challenged faced when trying to put in practice a common model to manage complex regions such as the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. |
