TL;DR In return for the support and access to Tetiaroa (the physical island, material samples, and derived data) provided by Tetiaroa Society, participants in research projects agree to make their metadata and prepublication data available to each other through a “Tetiaroa Data Trust” that facilitates data and material sample re-use according to mutually agreed terms and a code of conduct. The Trust is maintained by the Tetiaroa Society to support decision-making for wise and equitable stewardship of the atoll. It follows best practices in research data stewardship. This policy does not impose legally binding conditions nor replace or impinge on legal obligations that might apply elsewhere.

Preamble

The owners of Tetiaroa have entrusted Tetiaroa Society (hereinafter “the Society”) as the atoll’s environmental steward with authority to develop and implement the Tetiaroa Conservation & Sustainable Use Plan1 (hereinafter “CASUP”), and to manage access to the atoll for research, education, or conservation projects (hereinafter “Projects). Projects must be authorized by Tetiaroa Society with advice from its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), Cultural Advisory Board (CAB), and/or other bodies, as appropriate. To ensure the responsible stewardship of data and other outputs derived from Projects (including material samples and intellectual property) Tetiaroa Society has established a data trust, which provides independent, fiduciary stewardship of data related to Tetiaroa2. The Tetiaroa Data Trust is a source of admissible evidence informing policy and management decisions (CASUP); it facilitates the development of tools that leverage AI and Digital Twin technologies to support scenario-based planning (see Tetiaroa IDEA3).

Purpose of this Document

The current document (hereinafter “the Policy”) represents guidelines that define the terms under which Tetiaroa Society grants Projects access to Tetiaroa and the expectations Tetiaroa Society has for Projects to contribute to the Tetiaroa Data Trust. The document is intended to be ‘socially binding’ with respect to the principles and common understanding described herein. The Policy does not preclude or replace legal obligations or responsibilities that project participants or institutions might incur (e.g., under the regulations and laws of French Polynesia).  

Article 1 – Convention

  1. Tetiaroa is committed to the wise stewardship of the atoll as described in the Tetiaroa Conservation & Sustainable Use Plan

  2. In return for the permission and support provided by Tetiaroa Society to access the atoll, participants in Projects agree to contribute to the Tetiaroa Data Trust, to participate in the Tetiaroa IDEA, and abide by the IDEA Consortium Code of Conduct4 (see Exhibit 1).

  3. Project leaders (hereinafter “Principal Investigators” or “PIs”) agree to submit an application describing their Project to Tetiaroa Society and commit to data and material sample management procedures5 (see Exhibit 2 for current procedures).  

  4. Principal Investigators agree that Tetiaroa Society may publish a document drawing on their project application as an Open Access6 Marker Paper7, attributing the PIs. 

  5. Principal Investigators agree to make all reasonable efforts to connect the Marker Paper to derived outputs of the Project, utilizing and maintaining persistent identifiers and linkages generated through their work on Tetiaroa.

  6. Tetiaroa Society may make a Data Dashboard available as an Open Access portal to Project metadata and links to Project outputs.

Article 2 – Contributors and Users 

  1. The Tetiaroa Data Trust consists primarily of the body of digital data and knowledge, including scientific, social, and legal metadata, contributed by Projects carried out in situ on Tetiaroa under the terms of this Policy. 

  2. The Data Trust may also include contributions of scientific models, software, or ex situ data (data generated about Tetiaroa without physical access to the atoll) that are not necessarily subject to the terms of this Policy. Access to these resources may therefore be subject to specific terms agreed with their contributors.

  3. Users wishing to access digital resources in the Data Trust that are not available to them under Open Access, or other terms, may submit a Project application to Tetiaroa Society8. 

Article 3 – Ethical, Legal, and Social Responsibility 

  1. Certain data types or samples may require special consideration for ethical, legal, and/or social reasons (including privacy and commercial confidentiality). Examples might include, but are not limited to, data or samples associated with traditional knowledge, archeological artifacts, endangered species, medical data, and human subject research. In some cases, government permits might be required. In other cases, there might be commercial considerations and/or social contexts where consent should be obtained. These aspects should be considered and addressed in the Project application.

  2. Requests to deviate from the terms described in this Policy should be submitted to Tetiaroa Society with justification in the Project application, or subsequently if new issues arise.

Article 4 – Commercial Projects

  1. Projects with commercial intent require a Project-specific agreement with Tetiaroa Society. 

  2. Commercial use is defined here as the sale, lease, or license of Project outputs; using the outputs to produce or manufacture products for general sale, not including publications and/or copyrightable works; transferring tangible rights by sale or license resulting in payment beyond cost; conducting market research; seeking pre-market approval.

  3. Projects may start with non-commercial intent but subsequently wish to begin commercial activities. In such circumstances, the Principal Investigator shall request a new agreement with Tetiaroa Society prior to carrying out any commercial activity.

Article 5 – Dispute Resolution

  1. Disputes concerning the use of data or samples in ways that breach the good-faith engagements made under this Policy are adjudicated by Tetiaroa Society with input from its Advisory Boards and other bodies as appropriate. Sanctions for failing to comply with the IDEA Code of Conduct or other aspects of the Policy may include the rescinding of rights of future access to Tetiaroa.

  2. This dispute resolution mechanism does not cover breaches of applicable laws or regulations, which shall be dealt with by the competent authorities.

Article 6 – Financial Aspects

  1. Nothing in this document commits Tetiaroa Society or any other parties financially.

Article 7 – Compliance Monitoring 

  1. The Tetiaroa Society will identify a delegate to check compliance with the Policy

Acknowledgements

The development of this policy was supported by NSF Grant # 2132549 and funding from the University of California. Prior drafts were developed by the FAIR Island Team (California Digital Library: John Chodacki, Maria Praetzellis, Catherine Nancarrow; DataCite: Matt Buys, Sarala Wimalaratne, Kelly Stathis and Kristian Garza; Metadata Game Changers: Erin Robinson; UC Berkeley: Neil Davies). We are grateful for comments and feedback during the development process from the Tetiaroa Society Science Advisory Board and researchers at Tetiaroa.

Citation

Cite the Tetiaroa Data Trust Policy with this DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16971599

  1. Tetiaroa Society. (2016). Tetiaroa Conservation & Sustainable Use Plan. Tetiaroa Society. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16969285↩︎

  2. Hardinges (2020) Open Data Institute. https://theodi.org/news-and-events/blog/data-trusts-in-2020/↩︎

  3. Tetiaroa Society is a collaborating node of the IDEA Consortium, simulating future states of social-ecological systems under alternative scenarios of human activity and/or environmental change.↩︎

  4. Davies, N. (2022). IDEA Code of Conduct. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16971172↩︎

  5. Davies, N., & Robinson, E. (2025). Tetiaroa Data Management Procedures. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16971233↩︎

  6. Policy guidelines for the development and promotion of open access UNESCO (2012) https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215863↩︎

  7. Peterson, J., Campbell, J. Marker papers and data citation. Nat Genet 42, 919 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1110-919↩︎

  8. Access to the “digital Tetiaroa” is under similar terms to projects requesting physical access.↩︎