IOC ADOPTS NEW MEASURES TO FAVOUR OCEAN STUDY AND PROTECTION
Paris, June 30 {No.2000-64} - The Executive Council of UNESCO’s
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), ended its annual meeting at
Organization Headquarters yesterday, with a reinforced commitment to monitor and
protect the world’s oceans.
Among the decisions approved by the Executive Council’s
36-members in its 33rd session, chaired by Su Jilan (China), was one to
co-operate in the launch of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS),
encompassing land, ocean and climate observation. It is to be operated with a
number of space agencies (CNES, NASA, and EUMETSAT along with the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA), several United Nations agencies,
international science institutes, and funding agencies. The Council mandated the
IOC’s Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) to act as co-ordinator of the
integrated system.
Amidst concern for the quality of existing ocean observation
buoys in many parts of the world, the Council obtained the commitment of IOC
Member States to accelerate the implementation of the Argo programme for a
global array of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats to measure the temperature
and salinity of the upper 2000 metres of the ocean. Argo will allow continuous
monitoring of the climate state of the oceans, with all data being relayed and
made publicly available within hours of collection. Member States pledged to
complete the installation of the 3,000 floats required by the programme over the
coming two years.
In the aftermath of the International Decade for Natural
Disaster Reduction which ended on December 31, 1999, the Executive Council
decided to continue its Pacific Ocean Tsunami Programme and make its experience
available, at no cost, to the Caribbean region. It also approved the start of
negotiations to raise funds for a major warning system to forecast storm in the
Northern Indian Ocean. The programme will target the Bay of Bengal where
recurrent storms regularly claim tens of thousands of lives. India, for its
part, announced it would begin implementing the programme on its own.
The disposal of carbondioxide
CO2 in the deep ocean was a
subject of particular concern at this year’s meeting which warned that there
was an urgent need to study the impact on marine ecosystems of massive CO2
disposal on the seabed. IOC Executive Secretary Patricio Bernal explained that
“with an exponential growth in CO2 emission, there will be growing pressure
from industry to use the techniques already being studied to dispose of CO2 on
the seabed.” He warned that very little was known about the consequences this
could have on the marine environment. The Executive Council expressed the
conviction that scientific knowledge concerning this matter needed to
be developed before decisions are taken as to the use of thesetechnologies.
This issue was also the subject of a Roger Revelle Memorial
Lecture, commemorating the pioneering American oceanographer, one of the
founders of the IOC, by Peter Brewer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium (USA). The
Council requested the Secretary General of the IOC to take measures to consider
the compatibility of such practices with the 1972 London Convention which
regulates the deliberate disposal of wastes at sea.
The 33rd session of the Executive Council, which marked the
40th anniversary of the IOC, opened on June 20. UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura addressed the session saying he was in favour of
strengthening the role of the IOC “as a focal point for ocean science.” Mr
Matsuura highlighted the IOC’s co-ordinating role within the United Nations
system and stressed its contribution to science education. He declared: “Many
of the issues facing humanity in the 21st century relate to the need to
harmonise the economic growth required to eradicate poverty, with the
maintenance of the basic life support system of the planet. This difficult
equilibrium is at the core of sustainable development. It requires the public to
be scientifically and environmentally literate and ready to act responsibly to
protect the global environment. The IOC has much to contribute to science
education and awareness-raising in this respect.”
The IOC was established in 1960 to provide the Member States
of the United Nations with a mechanism for global co-operation in the study of
the ocean and to serve as a common body for co-ordination amongst UN agencies
and programmes with a responsibility for marine affairs. The purpose of the
Commission is to promote international co-operation and to co-ordinate
programmes in research, services and capacity building, in order to learn more
about the nature and resources of the ocean and coastal areas and to apply that
knowledge for the improvement of management, the protection of the marine
environment, and the decision-making processes of its Member States.
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