ANNEX V

SELECTED RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FROM THE MIAMI WORKSHOP REPORT

 

1.

RATIONALE FOR A COASTAL GOOS

(From section 2 of the Miami Workshop Report)

Coastal areas are of immense importance for human habitation and economic activity. Over 50% of the world's population lives on the 3% of the earth's surface area that is defined as coastal. This population percentage is increasing and, if present trends continue, will exceed 70% by 2030, or more than 6 billion people, compared with less than 3 billion today. Most manufacturing and services economic activity occurs in this relatively small area considered coastal. For the United States, the 10% of the country that is in coastal areas is estimated to generate over one-third of the Gross National Product.

Human uses of the ocean are most intense in the coastal zone. One means of quantifying these uses is the economic value associated with various marine-related industries. Several countries including Australia, France, the UK, and the USA have compiled economic data on some of the coastal uses. Some examples can be provided by data from the USA (Culliton, NOAA, 1990; The American Association of Port Authorities; US Census Bureau):

1. US coastal areas include the most rapidly growing and densely populated counties in the country. The population of Florida will increase by 226% between 1960 and 2010 - from 5 million to 16 million. Nationally, the increase will be almost 60%, from 80 to more than 127 million people.
2. The great majority of the world's international commerce moves through coastal waters, with the annual value of such trade just for the United States estimated to be about $571 billion in 1994. Commercial port activities employed 1.5 million americans in 1992.
3. Offshore deposits account for a large and increasing fraction of the world's oil and gas production.
4. Commercial fishing is generally concentrated in coastal areas where most of the exploitable stocks are found. About 90% of the world's biomass of fish and shellfish occurs in coastal waters. About 60% of the people in developing countries obtain the majority of their protein from fish.
5. These waters are a focus for recreational activities such as boating, bathing, and fishing. For example, in the USA, recreational fishing was estimated in the early 1990's to contribute $6.2 billion, and recreational boating, $17.1 billion annually to the economy.
6. Coastal US states receive about 85% of all national tourism revenues.

N. Fleming (1994) presented an economic case for a Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) with the following annual estimates in US $:

• offshore oil and gas, $135 billion;
• expenditures for oil and gas rigs and platforms, $45 billion;
• global fisheries, $126 billion;
• maritime transport revenue, $173 billion;
• global marine tourism, $100 billion;
• sales of recreational boats, $20-30 billion;
• marine electronics, $10 billion;
• civil ship building, $10 billion.

These marine-related industries total more than $629 billion per year. Not included in these estimates are the costs of insurance industry in the coastal zone, costs related to waste management, to maintenance of ports and harbors, navigational safety, marine weather forecasting, marine mining, and coastal shoreline protection, maintenance, and development. The coastal element of GOOS can improve the efficiency and reduce the costs of many of these economic sectors.

Beyond the immense direct economic significance of coastal areas is their great value for ecological and aesthetic reasons. Coastal waters contain biologically productive, diverse ecosystems that provide vital habitat for many commercial and endangered species. Wetland and other shoreline areas are extremely important breeding and spawning areas for many species of fish and other organisms and yet globally over 50% of such areas have already undergone severe environmental degradation. Shoreline areas also take on critical roles as buffers between land and sea. They protect uplands from storms and flooding while at the same time serving as filters to remove pollutants and other materials transported from upland areas before they enter the coastal ocean.

Following preparatory work by the IOC from 1989 onwards, including through the Second World Climate Conference, the signatory parties to the UN Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992 agreed that a Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) should be established to meet the needs of the diverse uses and interactions of humankind with the marine environment. Working through the IOC, WMO, UNEP, ICSU, and FAO member states have begun to define their requirements for GOOS. This report examines the issues related to the coastal aspects of GOOS. It builds upon previous considerations of the Health of the Oceans (HOTO) and the Living Marine Resources modules of GOOS. The work being done in formulating the EuroGOOS, the NEARGOOS, the US coastal GOOS, and coastal GOOS activities in countries such as Australia, Brazil, India, and New Zealand during the past several years has also been useful in our considerations. We assume that there will be one GOOS; the presently defined "modules" provide a means of defining the requirements to meet various objectives. We also assume that the coastal component of GOOS will have widespread applications for nearly all coastal states. Coastal GOOS involves a large number of cross-cutting issues being considered by the five modules.

In addition to regional activities which are already formally linked to GOOS, the workshop received information on other well-established regional monitoring networks. These activities have also developed a wealth of experience upon which Coastal GOOS should build. A prime example of such an existing monitoring system is CARICOMP, a network of Carribean marine laboratories, parks and preserves which concentrates on Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity and which was initially supported by UNESCO. CARICOMP might provide a focus for the development of a Coastal GOOS initiative in the Caribbean region. Others such specialized networks include the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and "the IOC-UNEP International Mussel Watch" and a mangrove initiative.

Concerns about the deterioration in coastal environments and ecosystems and about resolving conflicts in uses of coastal resources have prompted many coastal states to develop integrated coastal area management programmes. International efforts are underway to focus attention on the need to achieve sustainable management of coastal resources and to preserve marine biodiversity. The coastal component of GOOS will establish a common approach to making the required coastal ocean observations, to achieving inter-comparability among separate efforts within a region and throughout the world, and to producing a set of products that meet user needs.

At present there are many programmes being conducted by countries around the world pertaining to coastal observations and assessments. These programmes include the determination of sea-level variations, the characterization of currents, the provision of marine meteorological forecasts and wave conditions to increase navigation safety, and marine environmental quality measurements. Additional value could be derived from these efforts if the present local and national efforts were more closely linked to provide regional and global consistency and for the compilation and exchange of data and information products.

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2.

UBIQUITOUS PROBLEMS, CORE VARIABLES AND END-USERS

(from section 10 of the Miami Workshop Report)

The Workshop agreed on a provisional list of variables which must be monitored in order to provide appropriate products to the managers of these applications. It is noted that not all the variables are the provenance of GOOS, and some data types will be required from land-based agencies, or are being co-ordinated by GCOS or GTOS.

The Workshop has considered the technologies (see Table 5 from the Miami Workshop Report below), defined the generic end-to-end system within which those technologies will be deployed, and suggested best practice in their use so as to provide reliable information services.

Table 5 (from the Miami Workshop Report):
Proven technologies for continuous/automatic and in situ measurements and for routine monitoring

Variable	Instrument/System/Platform (Satellite/Buoy)
Sea level / tides	tide gauges (pressure and acoustic), seabed echosounder (inverted echosounder) satellite altimeter
Meteorological variables, e.g.: air temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind velocity and direction, solar radiation	land-based observation and data collection platforms, buoys and observation towers with telemetry using VHF, HF and Satellites, ship-borne deck/bridge observations
Extent of sea ice	Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Self Scanning Microwave Instrument (SSMI) and shore-based radar
Photosynthetically available radiation	in situ sensors
Wave period, height	wave rider buoys with telemetry, satellite based SAR
Wave direction, frequency spectra	shore-based radar, wave directional buoys with telemetry
Sea Surface temperature	in situ sensors, satellite radiometers, drifting buoys
Vertical profile of temperature	XBT
Vertical profile of salinity and temperature	CTD, XCTD
Surface currents	shore-based high frequency radars (e.g., OSCR, CODAR) wind-sea coupled models, ADCP, moored and drifting buoys
Vertical profile of currents	ADCP, current meters
Salinity	in situ sensors, discrete samples, buoy mounted sensors
Dissolved oxygen	in situ sensors, discrete samples, buoy mounted sensors
Ocean color (surface chlorophyll)	ocean color scanner
Turbidity and suspended sediments	in situ sensors, bottom mounted acoustic instruments, satellite optical sensors, moored buoys
Reflectance (oil spill detection)	satellite based radiometers
Precipitation	radar

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GOOS design, including the coastal component, is based on the evidence that there are real advantages in carrying out the design at a global level. This evidence includes:

• The understanding that there are ubiquitous processes which can be measured, modelled, and predicted.
• The commonality of problems and applications in the coastal zone as perceived by customers and user groups.
• The recognition that there are global concerns related to global climate change, climate variability and other aspects of global environmental change, both naturally and anthropogenically induced.

Advantages include:

• Available technologies and communications which permit the assembly of synoptic or near synoptic global data sets.
• Economies of scale.
• Widespread application of best practice.
• Consistent and compatible data sets gathered by different groups permitting the creation of coherent global data sets.

These factors necessitate that GOOS be designed and implemented with full recognition of the need for coherence at the global scale. A future objective of J-GOOS must be to ensure that an agreed set of core variables to be measured in coastal GOOS is defined. Wherever possible the coastal component of GOOS should include sets of core variables which are measured to compatible standards globally or within ecosystems, in addition to local and site-specific requirements. It is one of the duties of J-GOOS to oversee the achievement of this global coherence.

The Workshop considers that the resources, staff, skills, and experience necessary to start the implementation of GOOS in the coastal zone on a phased basis, and to carry out the necessary operational activities, including pre-operational research, do exist at the level of national agencies, and of the large national and regional GOOS programmes. The recommendations of this report are therefore balanced so as to retain the responsibility for global coherence and integration at the level of J-GOOS, while suggesting that the responsibility for detailed design and implementation is most appropriately delegated to the national and regional levels.

The workshop participants identified and discussed a large number of concerns which are ubiquitous in the coastal regions of the world and require global assessments and responses.

Several examples in which a coastal-based ocean observing system will have increasingly valuable benefits include evaluations of sea-level variations, climate change and variability, assessments of trends in occurrences of harmful algal blooms and occurrences of oxygen depletion in coastal waters, and enhanced sustainability of coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, barrier islands, and rocky shores.

By addressing these concerns in coastal environments on a global basis there is recognition of the universal nature of coastal physical, chemical, and biological processes, the trans-boundary character of marine problems, and the benefits that can be derived by employing a common set of standards, procedures, and information products.

The potential users and partners in implementing the coastal portion of GOOS include the shipping industry, the oil and gas industry, port and harbor authorities, commercial fisheries, mariculture operations, the re-insurance industry, the tourism and recreation industries, the governmental agencies that support the needs of these marine-related industries, coastal zone managers, regulatory agencies for coastal resources, and the marine science community.

Examples of applications, users, and variables to be measured are given in Table 1 in the Miami Workshop Report (see below).

GOOS has the objective to measure characteristics of the world ocean and coastal seas so as to produce data and products which have socioeconomic value and environmental benefits. This Report demonstrates that the greater part of these benefits will accrue by application of GOOS products to problems in the coastal zone.

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Table 1 (from the Miami Workshop Report):
Examples of problems to be solved (or applications for GOOS) in the coastal zone,
variables that need to be measured,
and the "stakeholders" or end users of coastal GOOS data and products.

Applications	Variables	End User
Disaster Mitigation	Wind, Sea State, Waves, Storm Surges, Tsunamis, Sea Ice, Sea Fog	Local & central gov'ts Transport, Fishing companies Coastal residents & developers Insurance & construction cos.
Fishing	T, S, chlorophyll, Sea State, Currents, Population Biomass, Population Structure	Fishing companies
Mariculture	T, S, Sediment, Water Quality, Nutrients	Mariculture industry
Coastal Development	Wave Statistics, Sea Level, Sea-State, Erosion, Bathymetry, Sedimentation, Riverine Inputs	Design and Engineering cos. Local gov'ts, Insurance cos.
Waste Management	Currents, Winds, Biological and Chemical Variables, Dissolved Oxygen, Water Quality	Dumping companies, Waste producers, Local gov'ts
Harmful Algal Blooms	T, S, Currents, Winds, Species Composition, Nutrients, Rainfall, Continental Runoff, Solar Radiation	Fishery companies, Local gov'ts, Mariculture cos., Insurance cos., Tourism & recreation industry
Human Health Protection	Bacteriological and chemical measurements in seafood, bacteriological indicators in seawater	Health departments and agencies
Pollution	Currents, Water Quality, Oxygen, Toxic Substances, Sediment Composition	Local gov'ts, Coastal developers, Construction industry, Coastal industries
Oil Spills	Currents, Winds, Waves, T, Ocean Color for Surface Slicks	Coast Guard, Clean-up operators, Insurance cos., Tanker cos.
Tourism and Recreation	Weather, Sea-state, Water Quality, Temperature, Solar Radiation, Rainfall	Tourism industry, Local gov'ts
Vessel Traffic	Currents, Winds, Waves, Visibility	Port Authorities, Shipping & Insurance companies
Efficiency of Offshore Operations	Sea State, sea level, currents, ice, sediment transport, wind, pollution parameters	Coastal Industries Offshore Oil companies Port authoritiesw

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World-Wide Coastal Zone Issues Sea level change. Ecosystem deterioration including preservation of biodiversity, the protection of critical habitats such as mangrove forests and coral reefs, the protection of endangered species and the introduction of non-indigenous species to marine ecosystems. Eutrophication from nutrient inputs from the watersheds and airsheds affecting the coastal zone. Waste management in the coastal zone. Harmful algal blooms. Threats to human health posed by marine disease vectors. Mitigation of natural and human-augmented disasters such as major storms, flooding, and coastal erosion. Over-exploitation of coastal fisheries and threats to artisanal fisheries. Mariculture management. Safe and efficient maritime transport including, port design and management, safety at sea, search and rescue operations, and responses to pollution caused by shipping accidents. Effective design and operation of industrial operations in the coastal zone. Reduction of the impacts in the coastal zone from non-point sources of pollution. Tourism and other recreational uses of the coastal zone. Threats to fresh water supplies from salt water intrusion in coastal areas.

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3.	CAPACITY BUILDING

The strategic design of the Coastal Zone component of GOOS needs to be developed from the perspective of ubiquitous global issues, concerns and required outputs/products. The needs for GOOS, and the benefits to be derived from it, are those enunciated by the international community in terms of economic and social development and environmental protection. These aspirations are partly reflected in multilateral agreements and international conference documents (e.g. Agenda 21).

The workshop noted that the coastal zone components of GOOS, initially developed in response to global issues, will subsequently need to be further developed and refined in the context of specific local/regional circumstances. Many problems in the coastal zone (e.g. eutrophication, habitat loss, storm surges) are especially severe in developing countries, although they may well have a global impact. Thus, in order for Coastal GOOS to be usefully implemented where it is arguably needed most, attention must be paid to the issues of training and capacity building.

If the Coastal GOOS Module is realized in a global sense, and it is planned to be based on a global data acquisition network, all the world's coastal regions must be considered in detail, with their local, regional and global peculiarities. It is impractical to plan a network for data acquisition, processing, analysis and interpretation with any predetermined scales of temporal and spatial resolution on a global level. However, it is essential that the locally-implemented constituents of a global GOOS are consistent with a global perspective so as to achieve regular and comprehensive sampling. For the same reason, the local/regional methodologies used to obtain and to process the data and its quality control, must be of adequate precision and accuracy to meet global standards and requirements.

Once the standards are defined, mechanisms to assure the required network design must be considered.

These points apply particularly to developing countries, where the human resources for coastal studies are sparse or do not exist. To ensure a good world-wide coverage, this problem must be corrected. The other point that must be considered is related to the technology that would be used for data collection, processing and analysis. Such technology must be accessible to all stakeholders, on a low cost basis and in an operational sense. Accordingly, assistance must be provided to help developing countries to raise the initial financial support required for the acquisition and deployment of the necessary devices in selected sites. Maintenance and calibration are other issues that must be considered when dealing with long term operation. For an efficient operation of such a system, a constant flux of technical and scientific knowledge and financial support is essential

.

The gaps in the geographical distribution of coastal activities are especially severe in the Southern hemisphere. Regional and National Coastal GOOS projects in these areas must be encouraged, promoting local groups to build their own local and regional programmes, using installed capacity, where possible. On the other hand, strong effort must be applied in the area of education, promoting facilities for medium and high level scientific and technical education for national scientists of these countries. The implementation of a global observation network is only the first step, that will be followed by a long-term operation and maintenance of the data acquisition systems. The necessity of well trained technical and scientific teams needs to be emphasized at all stages of the planning process.

The resulting data bases should be accessible to all participants, and Internet standards for data transmission must be established to facilitate data transfer. Products developed with such data bases should be accessible to all participating countries.

Practical solutions to these problems may be obtained through regional GOOS initiatives, particularly where a region includes both developed and developing countries. In addition, the natural teleconnections induced by oceanic and atmospheric dynamics mean that phenomena occurring in one region may have impacts on other very distant parts of the globe, regardless of national, political boundaries. This provides a rationale for training and capacity building being provided to the developing countries, even on the restricted basis of the self-interest of developed nations.

There is much "aid" which can be provided which costs the donor little but can be very valuable to the recipients in developing countries. Examples of this include:

1. the provision of training in recipient countries;

2. the adoption of a free and open exchange data policy;

3. the release of historical data sets;

4. the free provision of products/advice in exchange for data from developing countries;

5. the encouragement, development and use of "consumer" technologies i.e. those that benefit from substantial markets;

6. assistance in the establishment of national and regional data centres;

7. major modelling centres can run models in domains of interest to developing countries, particularly if such initiatives are accompanied by the provision of scholarships to allow recipient countries to participate in the generation and interpretation of model output.

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4.	RECOMMENDATIONS

The Workshop recommended the formation of a GOOS Coastal Module Panel, but recognized that many of the recommended actions need not be initiated by or controlled directly by the Panel. Many of these necessary actions can be carried out by the GOOS Support Office, by Regional and National GOOS bodies, by groups of experts, or by consultants. The Panel should oversee and review such activities, without causing delays in urgently required actions. In particular, as regards the coastal zone, J-GOOS itself and the Panel must take into account the vigorous level of national and commercial activity which will proceed regardless of GOOS, and try to integrate these activities in the most efficient way possible.

The Workshop recommends that J-GOOS should:

1. Form a GOOS Coastal Module Panel with the Terms of Reference set out in Annex VII.

2. Ensure that analysis is conducted showing in detail the full range of problems which occur in the coastal zone requiring GOOS services, the urgent issues and requirements for monitoring and information which are the driving reasons for the development of GOOS in the coastal zone, the user groups and categories of industries which are the potential customers, the products which they require, and the variables which need to be measured to deliver those products.

   2a.    Facilitate the investigation and definition of sets of core variables appropriate at global and other scales or regimes including recommended degrees of accuracy and resolution.

3. Continue to assess the requirements identified by the other GOOS Modules in the coastal zone, and optimize their integration with the Coastal Module Panel.

4. Promote and encourage the conduct of economic studies in coastal regions to assess the benefits of GOOS regional products, especially in order to identify the services which will be most useful to developing countries.

5. Encourage regional GOOS groups to promote market research on the needs for GOOS coastal products, and establish links with global organizations representing major industries and services in the coastal zone who will be potential users or beneficiaries of GOOS products. Establish working relations with stakeholders in the coastal zone.

6. Encourage regional GOOS groups to develop GOOS Coastal activities which involve the Developing Countries as participants, and promote Capacity Building which will facilitate generation of GOOS products in the coastal zones of Developing Countries.

7. Promote and encourage the development of coastal environmental data services through regional collaboration between Member States and Agencies, and promote the formation of such regional associations in GOOS where appropriate.

8. Encourage the development and testing of new technologies which are designed to meet the requirements of the coastal component of GOOS.

9. The Workshop recommends the following regional initiatives to J-GOOS as initial steps to begin moving the Coastal Module of GOOS forward:

   1. Endorse or recognize the entities with regional scope represented by NEARGOOS, EuroGOOS, and national initiatives such as India-GOOS and US-GOOS, as appropriate organizational mechanisms for meeting the needs of the coastal component of GOOS.

   2. Identify and encourage the formation of similar regional and national entities, and/or the expansion of the existing regional and national entities, in order to achieve the required global scope for the coastal component of GOOS. Examples of regions where Member States and Agencies might consider it appropriate to quickly expand the regional approach include the Black Sea, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the South Atlantic, the South China Sea, the Arctic and the South Pacific.

   3. Forward this Workshop Report to the existing regional and national entities to provide guidance on the needs of Coastal GOOS, requesting their feedback to the future planning process.

   4. Charge those entities with developing practical action plans relevant to the coastal requirements of their regions.

   5. Review, and when appropriate, endorse those plans, as being scientifically and technically viable and consistent with GOOS objectives. J-GOOS should consider developing a procedure whereby regional plans can be reviewed and, if appropriate, given international endorsement by J-GOOS.

   6. Devise and encourage mechanisms for achieving an efficient overall plan for coastal GOOS drawing on the experience of the regional entities, which meets the needs of all GOOS Modules, and in coordination with the other global observing systems and the World Weather Watch.

10. Propose to the GOOS Support Office to establish procedures by which virtually all coastal states can become engaged in the process of designing and implementing the coastal portion of GOOS. These procedures should include the following:

    1. incorporate into the GOOS World Wide Web site the list of contacts in each country for GOOS overall, and for the HOTO, LMR, Climate, and Coastal Modules of GOOS;

    2. incorporate links into the GOOS World Wide Web site links that point to national and regional GOOS planning efforts;

    3. encourage the dissemination of established and prototype GOOS information products via the World Wide Web.

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CONCLUDING STATEMENT FROM THE GOOS COASTAL WORKSHOP

Coastal GOOS derives much of its justification from the increased effectiveness and efficiency with which economic activities can be carried out in the coastal zone. However, as recognized by Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 and elsewhere, important societal goals, such as those set out in treaties and conventions on climate change and biodiversity, and those relating to human health, will also be supported by a coastal GOOS.

There is no doubt that some valuable, albeit limited, progress can be achieved by the better use of existing resources. But, to the extent that governments and agencies wish to reap the benefits of Coastal GOOS and to fulfill their responsibilities identified under UNCED and other agreements of the global community, resources will have to be found for these purposes.

The benefits identified and the recommendations made above, have significance only in so far as the commitments of nations to support the GOOS initiatives are realized.

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