For Immediate Release: 19 November 2001
CONTACT: Shubha Sathyendranath
902-426-8044 Email: pogo@sio.ucsd.edu
Heads of Major Oceanographic Institutions of the World
Meet in Nova Scotia, Canada
During the last week of November (27 - 29), White Point in Nova Scotia
will be the venue for a gathering of men and women who direct oceanographic
research and operations in leading institutions world wide.
The occasion is the Third Annual Meeting of the Partnership for Observation
of the Global Oceans. This Partnership is a registered not-for-profit
society that maintains its office at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography
inDartmouth, Nova Scotia, but it has world-wide membership. Its members
are leading oceanographic institutions of the world. The purpose of this
recently-formed society is to:
- promote observations of the oceans
- improve scientific knowledge
- interpret scientific knowledge to policy makers
- enhance public awareness of oceanic issues
- provide training and technology transfer in oceanography
Though several international organisations exist to promote collaboration
among oceanographers, the Partnership is the first organisation that brings
together major oceanographic institutions under a single umbrella. Underlying
this new effort to promote collaboration, co-operation and co-ordination
among oceanographic institutions is the realisation that many of the problems
that face us today are global in scope, and that we have to work together
in a coherent fashion to be able to address these issues at the global
scale. The Partnership recognises that ocean studies and their applications
are truly international activities: the oceans do not recognise national
boundaries.
The Partnership encourages their members to abandon a purely parochial
vision in favour of a global perspective. At last their meeting in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, the participants unanimously adopted a Declaration that
calls for the need to enhance ocean observations in the Southern Hemisphere:
two thirds of the world oceans are in the Southern Hemisphere, and most
of the major world economies and world leaders in oceanography are in
the Northern Hemisphere. The goal of global observations therefore will
not become a reality without a concerted efforted to bridge the north-south
divide.
As part of their strategy to address these issues, the Partnership launched
a fellowship programme this year which allows scientists and technicians
from developing countries and economies in transition to travel to leading
oceanographic institutions for training on specialised subjects. Thirteen
fellowships have been awarded this year, and three of these winners are
being hosted by Canada: the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (Dartmouth),
Dalhousie University (Halifax), and Institute of Ocean Sciences (Vancouver
Island) will be home for a few months to visitors from India, Uruguay
and Russia, thanks to this international training programme.
Dr. Mike Sinclair, Director of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography
is a member of the Executive Committee of the Partnership. The Chair is
Dr. Charles Kennel, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California.
Over forty participants from some thirteen foreign countries (Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Norway,
Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States of America)
will be converging on White Point this month, along with representatives
of other major international organisations with oceanographic interests.
On their agenda are plans to establish and enhance a global network of
long-term observations of the oceans. They will also be discussing the
need to promote biological observations: there is much to be learned about
how life in the oceans will respond to climate change, and about marine
bio-diversity. Also on the agenda are more plans to help each other, learn
about each other, and promote collaboration and understanding among oceanographic
nations.
