Open Science at the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF), defining its model and challenges involved

Abstract

The conservation of Protected Areas (PAs) in the Galapagos Islands has reached several acknowledgments: Natural Heritage of Humanity, Biosphere Reserve, Marine Sanctuary, Ramsar Site, etc. One of the reasons to achieve this recognition is the availability of scientific knowledge generated by important institutions such as the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF). This knowledge helps to provide the local environmental authority (GNPD, Galapagos National Park Directorate) with scientific evidence for decision-making. Nonetheless, there is the challenge of offering greater accessibility to information and evaluating the advances toward the Sustainability Development Objectives (SDOs). At the same time and according to current trends, scientific research which is based on collaborative, providing transparency of all the phases included in research builds the concept of open science, demonstrating the main idea behind information management. This article intends to present the first steps to open science that our institution is working on. We present a CDF projects visualizer and the provision of a geoportal with data from the Plan Galapagos 2030 in collaboration with the Government Council of the Galapagos Special Regime. Secondly, we will develop an assessment of the impact of the opening of these datasets and its visualizers. That is to say, we will analyze the qualities and observations perceived by the community, regarding the disposition of the published visualizer and geoportal; which will also allow for the identification of identifying the main challenges and uncertainties towards the growth and implementation of open science for CDF's scientific production.