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Abstract

The co-authors of this paper hereby state the ir intention to work together to launch the Genomic Observatories
Network (GOs Network) for which this document will serve as its Founding Charter. We define a Genomic Observatory
as an ecosystem and/or site subject to long-term scientific research, including (but not limited to) the sustained study
of genomic biodiversity from single-celled microbes to multicellular organisms.
An international group of 64 scientists first published the call for a global network of Genomic Observatories in January 2012. The vision for such a network was expanded in a subsequent paper and developed over a series of meetings in Bremen (Germany), Shenzhen (China), Moorea (French Polynesia), Oxford (UK), Pacific Grove (California, USA),
Washington (DC, USA), and London (UK). While this commun
ity-building process continues, here we express our
mutual intent to establish the GOs Network formally, and
to describe our shared vision for its future. The views
expressed here are ours alone as individual scientists, and do not necessarily represent those of the institutions
with which we are affiliated.