IOCARIBE-GOOS BRIEFING

 

DEFINITION

 

“IOCARIBE-GOOS is a basic source of information, services and products to support sustainable social and economic development, welfare, and safety, through systematic observations and associated research on coasts and seas in the IOCARIBE region. The system is operational in nature and designed to yield products and services that meet the needs of users.  It provides information on the past, present and future state of the marine and coastal environment, on marine ecosystems and biodiversity, and on weather and climate variability.  It is also a tool for integrated management of the coastal zone. International cooperation and capacity building are essential to the effective operation of the system and to enable potential users to benefit from it.”

 

BACKGROUND

 

The countries of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico need IOCARIBE-GOOS as a fundamental tool for development and sustainable exploitation of the marine and coastal environment. Such a system is essential for the integrated management of the coastal zone in general.  Many human socio-economic activities will benefit from the outcomes of IOCARIBE-GOOS, in particular, tourism, which is an extremely sensitive and changing activity as a consequence of the influence of both internal and/or external factors of political, economic and social character. High quality weather forecasts in which users have confidence are also of strategic importance for the region, not only because many of the region’s economic activities depend on the weather, but also because extreme meteorological events can have disastrous effects on the peoples of our region and on their economies. These two factors in themselves, tourism and weather forecasting, give more than enough reasons to develop and implement a system that will help to improve environmental quality and to increase forecasting skill.

 

The establishment and development of the regional ocean and coastal observing system component of GOOS should develop from the platform of marine sciences and services founded by the IOC Sub-commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE). As a first step, the regional GOOS component would define, establish, promote and develop the following factors: the scientific conception; assessments of capacities and needs, both at national and regional levels; and the strategic design. This will provide the basis for planning the actual implementation.

 

OBJECTIVES

 

The objectives of the IOCARIBE-GOOS regional system will be the same as those of the global system, modified by the inclusion of specific objectives that satisfy the fundamental needs and priorities for the sustainable development of the states of the region. The 6^th Meeting of the Sub-commission agreed that top priority areas for the conception and implementation of IOCARIBE-GOOS would be as follows: tourism, coastal populations, fisheries, marine pollution, marine biological diversity, agriculture, maritime safety, storms and hurricanes, weather forecast, tsunamis, and storm surges.

 

The system is essential to the wise exploitation of marine and coastal areas, and to reduce the risks of human and/or economic losses due to weather and climate events or other natural marine associated disasters. The IOCARIBE-GOOS would help society by, among other things,  the establishment of early warning systems, improvements in environmental forecasts, and providing the information needed to improve coastal protection.

 

 

HISTORY

 

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO initially devised the GOOS in 1989. The Second World Climate Conference subsequently endorsed it in 1990 as the means of providing the oceanographic data needed for the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). The initiative was also endorsed by the United Nations Summit Conference on Environment and Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and by the Second International Conference on Oceanography, held in Lisbon in November 1994. The establishment of the Global Ocean Observing System implies an intense process of capacity building to develop the strong scientific, technological, organizational, and structural capacities needed by all participants independently of their level of development. This capacity building must also enable potential users to access the necessary knowledge and skills to use GOOS data and information in support of sustainable development and coastal zone management.

 

The United Nations Summit Conference on Environment and Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 also endorsed the initiative. Convinced of the strategic importance of such a tool for weather forecasts and for climate change forecasting, the States participating in the Summit Conference ratified the necessity for GOOS and their willingness to establish such a Global System so as to allow us to understand and to manage properly the resources of the seas and oceans.

 

The Second International Conference on Oceanography, held in Lisbon in November 1994, also gave high priority to the establishment of an operational system for global ocean observations. The Lisbon Conference concluded also that knowledge of the marine environment, including coastal areas, had greatly increased during the last decades, but that there is still a lot to discover and to understand about the oceans. The Lisbon Conference also agreed to reaffirm the necessity to create and to strengthen the scientific capacity of the developing countries, so as to ensure that their national needs in marine science and technology could be satisfied, and at the same time, that they could fully participate in international oceanographic programs that were consistent with their national priorities and aspirations.

 

In this context, the establishment of a Regional Ocean and Coastal Observing System in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico is particularly important. The Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico region has a great diversity of states and cultures, and is also an area of very particular geographical characteristics, where the sea and the coasts, far from dividing the countries, constitute a common heritage that unites them all. The seas and coasts provide basic resources for the economies of the majority of the states of the region. Thus marine observations, forecasts, and other products and services dealing with the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico marine and coastal environment, are important strategic elements for the sustainable development of the Region.

 

Bearing this in mind, the IOC Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions decided at its 6^th session in April 1999 to establish and develop the regional component of the Global Ocean Observing System, IOCARIBE-GOOS. The 29 Member States and its territories comprising Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France, Grenade, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America and Venezuela of the IOC´s Regional Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE-UNESCO), have formed a new GOOS Regional Alliance.  The GOOS concepts of integrated observing systems and shared data and products are well suited for this region, linked by its common marine boundaries.  The Strategic Plan for IOCARIBE-GOOS, “The Case for IOCARIBE-GOOS” has been developed and endorsed by the Seventh Intergovernmental Session of the IOCARIBE Sub-Commission SC-IOCARIBE-VII in March 2002.