News from the IW:LEARN project
Monday’s announcement of a new U.S. National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Policy) should be a turning point in the country’s management of its coastlines and seas, and represents an important first step for improving global ocean health. That was the reaction of Dr. Gregory Stone today, Chief Ocean Scientist for Conservation International (CI). “Simply put, this is a monumental moment in ocean management by the United States, and a very positive step in the right direction for ocean health,” said Dr. Stone. “It could not have come at a more critical time for our oceans, which have been under siege from devastating, long-term threats that include the depletion of fisheries, habitat destruction, toxic pollution, and rising temperatures.”
The 5+5 Dialogue is a forum for political dialogue which brings together ten countries bordering the Western Mediterranean Basin: five countries of the Arab Maghreb Union (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) and five countries of the European Union (Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal).
Ever wondered what tuna is found in your country? How long tuna lives? What tuna is overfished and what tuna is sustainable? What other species are caught with tuna? These questions and more are answered in a set of factsheets produced by the UNDP/GEF-funded Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project.
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, 28 June 2010 - Environmental and hydropower experts will be meeting in Ho Chi Minh City over the next two days to discuss an assessment of the environmental and social impact of the 12 hydropower dams proposed for construction on the mainstream lower Mekong. The MRC commissioned Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Proposed Mainstream Hydropower Dams in the Lower Mekong is due for release in August this year and this meeting will inform its final report. Consultants working on the SEA are expected to recommend a range of possible measures to Mekong countries in order to address both the development opportunities and concerns over the impact of the proposed projects. The MRC says that this will feed into subsequent discussions among MRC Member Countries Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam as to whether or not to go ahead with such schemes, and if so, under what conditions.
The ASCLME Project has combined forces with sister project SWIOFP, to bring you a combined newsletter, Current Affairs. The first edition has just been published and covers news about both Projects over the last year. At 56 pages, it shows just how much work is being done in the region.
Maps derived from airborne and satellite imaging systems provide reliable and cost effective information for monitoring, modelling and managing marine, terrestrial and atmospheric environments. As the number of commercial and free airborne and satellite image types increases, along with easier access to public domain and open-source image processing approaches, the choice of which data and processing approach(es) to use is confusing. To enable technicians, scientists and managers to make the most appropriate selection of data and a processing approach for a specific environment and application, an interactive, web-based toolkit was created by the Biophysical Remote Sensing Group at the University of Queensland. The toolkit teaches managers, scientists and technicians working in marine, terrestrial and atmospheric environments, how images collected from satellites and aircraft (remote sensing) can be used to map and monitor environmental features or processes, and their change over time.
The Pacific Islands region consists of 14 independent countries and 8 territories located in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The region’s fishery resources can be broadly split into two main categories: oceanic (offshore) and coastal (inshore). Oceanic or offshore resources include tunas, billfish and allied species and are characterized by an open-water pelagic habitat and potentially extensive individual movements. Coastal or inshore resources include a wide range of finfish and invertebrates and are characterized by their shallow-water habitats or demersal life-styles and restriction of individual movements to coastal areas. A recently published FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper, Marine fishery resources of the Pacific Islands, discusses these two resource categories, updating and expanding an earlier review by FAO of the marine fishery resources of the Pacific Islands. Information is provided on the major types of fishing, the important species, the status of those resources and the fisheries management that occurs. In general, the coastal fishery resources are heavily fished and often show signs of overexploitation, especially in areas close to population centres and for fishery products in demand by the rapidly-growing Asian economies.
On 24 June 2010, the IAEA´s Nuclear Knowledge Management programme received the The Column of Knowledge award for 2010 from Knowledge Management Austria.
Recently-published FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Proceedings, The potential of spatial planning tools to support the ecosystem approach to aquaculture, based on an Expert Workshop, reviews the status and potential of such spatial planning tools in implementing the EAA. The paper includes the workshop report summarizing the salient contributions from participants, and one review.
SYDNEY // The next generation of water experts met this week in Australia to tackle the threat of war and climate change on the world’s supplies. Representatives from 25 countries gathered at the International Young Water Professionals conference to look at ways to keep taps flowing in the face of worsening droughts and population growth.
Climate change is hitting coastal areas hard: rises in sea levels, ocean acidification, extreme events, bleaching and death of coral are all climate impacts which will require adjustments socially and economically. A new IUCN report, published today, provides practical guidance for coastal communities and industries to adapt to climate change.
According to the Spanish Embassy in Athens, Spain has ratified the ICZM Protocol, thus being the 4th party to the Protocol. The Division of Treaties of MFA Spain has been instructed to deposit the ratification instrument for ICZM treaty.
Three quarters of Brazil’s most important freshwater habitats are inadequately protected and 40 per cent are in an advanced state of degradation, threatening a “gigantic disaster” for the planet’s biological powerhouse, an important new report reveals today.
The UN weather agency said Tuesday that El Nino, which wreaks havoc around the Pacific and east Africa, has dissipated, but La Nina -- another disruptive weather phenomenon, is likely to develop. "Following the rapid dissipation of El Nino in early May 2010, cool-neutral to weak La Nina conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific," said the World Meteorological Organisation in a statement.
