ANNEX IV
REPORT ON C-GOOS STAKEHOLDER'S WORKSHOP (OCTOBER 29, 1998)
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- At the beginning of the workshop, speeches of welcome were given by Dr. Nicolau
Klppel (the representative of the Governor of the State of Parana), Dr. Waldomiro
Gremski (representative of the President of the Federal University of Parana - UFDP),
Vice-Admiral Marcos Augusto Leal de Azevedo (Director of the Diretoria de Hidrografia e
Navega‡ƒo (DHN)), Dr. Carlos Garcia (President of the University of Rio Grande),
and Dr. Carlos Soares [Vice-Director of the Centre of Marine Studies (CMS) of the Federal
University of Parana]. Each speaker explained their own close involvement in different
aspects of basic and applied marine science on the coast of Brazil, and pointed out how
important programmes like C-GOOS are for countries like Brazil. It can contribute to the
navigation safety of the Brazilian coast, promote the economy in Brazil by making the
ports more attractive to foreign ships, enhance collaboration with other nations and
foster the scientific development of Oceanography in Brazil.
- On behalf of the IOC of UNESCO, and of the other sponsors of GOOS (WMO, UNEP and ICSU),
Colin Summerhayes, Director of the GOOS Project office in the IOC, welcomed participants
to the C- GOOS workshop, and thanked the distinguished guests for their warm and generous
welcome and for their hospitality in welcoming C-GOOS to Curitiba, a city famous for its
environmental initiatives. He remarked that it was fitting that we were meeting in Brazil,
which is already an important player in GOOS at the international level through its
leadership of the PIRATA project in the tropical Atlantic, and its secondment of key staff
to the GOOS Project Office in Paris. Brazil is setting a fine example to other countries
in South America in developing a national contribution to a major international programme,
which, like the WMO's World Weather Watch will serve the entire global community.
- He noted this particular meeting is an important departure for GOOS in two ways: (I)
being the first meeting between C-GOOS and the user community, and (ii) being the first
international GOOS meeting in South America. It is vital that GOOS planners meet, talk
with and ascertain the needs of the user community, since GOOS must be designed to meet
societal as well as scientific needs. He thanked people for giving up their valuable time
to attend the meeting, and looked forward to an informative dialogue that would help the
Panel of C-GOOS to design an observing system that would produce products and services
that people needed to manage the marine environment in a sustainable way and to protect
themselves from its dangers.
- Colin Summerhayes then gave a presentation on GOOS, following which Tom Malone gave a
presentation on C-GOOS.
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of page)
| 2. |
SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL NEEDS: THE STAKEHOLDER'S PERSPECTIVE |
| 2.1 |
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT |
Paulo Castella, from the Office of the Secretary for the Environment, presented the
Coastal Zone Management Programme created for the Brazilian coast in 1981 and improved in
1988. The goals of this Programme are to plan coastal development, to mediate conflicts in
coastal areas and to benefit society, economy and the environment. All states in Brazil
participate in this Programme. Individual states execute the research/monitoring and write
the environmental quality reports. Polluters are fined according to the established laws.
The waters of Paranagu Bay are being monitored for dissolved oxygen, coliform
bacteria, metals in the sediment and water column, pH, and total suspended solids. The
first three parameters are especially important for the intensive aquaculture efforts in
Paranagu Bay. The data are usually summarized in the form of written reports but
efforts are being made to also summarize them electronically. In addition, the
social-economical impacts of coastal development are starting to be pursued.
Dr. Luiz Ivan de Vasconcellos, Technical Director of the Port of Paranagu , gave a
presentation on the work being carried out to improve navigation and environmental
conditions in the Port of Paranagu . The Harbour authorities are working in
partnership with other organisations, including the Brazilian Navy's DHN, and the
University's CMS, to collect wind, wave and sea-level data to help improve navigation, and
to monitor changes to the local ecology caused by such activities as the discharge of
ballast water, and the dredging of navigation channels. The partnership has led to the
choice of more suitable locations for the disposal of dredge spoil, better definition of
the dredged channels, shifts in channel position to reduce its rate of siltation, thereby
saving on dredging costs, and sound advice on the best time of year to dredge so as to
avoid environmental damage.
Having found that the data and their analyses can be useful in planning of the
modernization and expansion of the port so that the environment is kept clean, the port
authorities believe that a technical advisory group is needed to keep navigation safe
while preserving the environment. This could be accomplished through collaborations with
the Navy and universities which could aid in the establishment of shipping regulations,
implementation of nautical signs, monitoring of environmental conditions, development of
models, collection of bathymetry data and addressing environmental concerns. As a result
the costs of the port operation would decrease, the port would be open for more days in
the year (making it more competitive), safety would increase and expansion of the port
would be done in healthy way.
The port authorities are also collaborating with the Brazilian petroleum company
(Petrobras) to develop regulations on oil spills.
| 2.3 |
THE TRAIN-SEA-COAST COURSE |
Prof. Carlos Soares of the CMS explained the Train-Sea-Coast Programme, which includes
another 10 centres worldwide. In Brazil it is run mainly by the University of Rio Grande
do Sul. The programme, which is centred on a 2-week long course funded by the UN's Law of
the Sea programme, aims to educate people from environmental agencies along with
non-scientific users, such as legislators, industrialists and environmental managers,
about the science and requirements of Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM).
Recently, the Federal University of Parana, supported by the Brazilian government,
offered a Train- Sea-Coast Course to train people within government and environmental
agencies in coastal ecological problems. Preparation for this course involved several
phases: problem analysis, job analysis, population analysis, the design of the curriculum,
the design of locally important modules, production of materials, implementation, and
evaluation. The problem analysis involved the selection of a relevant topic for the coast
of Parana; the job and population analysis identified the group which could most benefit
from this course; the design of the curriculum focussed on the most relevant issues for
the area. Once these tasks were completed, the materials needed to be printed, the course
implemented and then evaluated.
Problems identified during this course included the following:
- the course was relatively costly to produce, and required a high registration fee
(US$300-350). If employers do not cover these costs, many individuals cannot afford to
participate;
- long-term funding for this activity is not certain;
- because the course is relatively long (two weeks), people like the lawyers and
consultants for whom it is designed in part may not be able to attend, so the course may
not be reaching a certain audience;
- there is not a uniform interest among potential sponsors (government, local government
and industry) in raising environmental awareness.
| 2.4 |
MARINE SCIENCE POLICY IN BRAZIL |
Marilia Albuquerque of the Ministry for Science and Technology, MCT, explained that the
mission of the Ministry is to promote scientific and technological development and to
execute research necessary for social, economical and cultural progress of Brazil. The
present science and technology system was implemented in 1985. Mrs. Albuquerque discussed
the different components and explained how they are interlinked. Three universities offer
BS degrees in Oceanography: Rio de Janeiro, Itajai (Santa Catarina), and Rio Grande (Rio
Grande do Sul). Three universities also offer graduate degrees: Sao Paulo, Rio Grande, and
Pernambuco. In addition, the government supports institutions for Oceanographic and
Limnological research like the Instituto de Pesquisas da Amazonia. (Top of page)
| 3. |
OPERATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY: STATE OF THE ART IN SOUTH AMERICA |
Dr. Dieter Muehe addressed the coastal module of GOOS in Brazil. C-GOOS should gather
data that can be used to support decisions regarding coastal development and the use of
natural resources in coastal areas. For example, the risk of coastal erosion has been
estimated for an area ranging from Cabo Frio in Brazil to Peninsula Valdez in Argentina
(within Brazil the focus is between Cabo Frio and Chui). More data are still needed in
certain areas in order to provide a better product (for example: discharge data in the
region of Cabo Frio). Hopefully these data will save lives as well as the natural
environment.
| 3.2 |
THE PROSPECTS OF REGIONAL COASTAL GOOS PILOT PROJECTS IN SOUTH AMERICA |
Ilana Wainer discussed possible South American activities within C-GOOS. A South
American network of monitoring sites and buoys has been suggested. For success the project
needs compatible data; funds to maintain equipment; data analysis and dissemination; and
human resources.
| 3.3 |
THE FUTURE OF C-GOOS IN SOUTH AMERICA |
Eduardo Marone summarized the results of the workshop reported on in Annex VII, which
called for mutual strengthening of capabilities for the establishment of a regional
natural hazard warning system in South America under the GOOS umbrella.
Consuelo Barrera, of the Colombian Direcion Nacional para la Prevencion y Atencion de
Desastres, explained the creation of a disaster warning and relief programme in response
to storms and mud-slides causing catastrophic loss of life and crops in Columbia. The
programme comprises a network of individuals from the smallest villages to the federal
government. Individual observations are passed to local offices, thence to regional
offices, and thence to the National Centre for Prevention and Attention of Disasters. This
agency provides warnings, manages rescues, and coordinates the distribution of assistance
when and where needed.
| 3.5 |
ANALYSIS OF THE RISK OF COASTAL EROSION INDUCED BY EPISODIC STORMS FROM CABO FR O
(BRAZIL) TO PEN NSULA VALDS (ARGENTINA) |
Federico Ignacio Isla, from the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina,
presented the status of the efforts to study the links between erosional problems and
coastal dynamics. Notwithstanding similar sea-level histories on the coastal plains and
barriers of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, present beaches are today subject to severe
erosion rates induced by storms coming from the south and south-east. In addition, studies
of sea-level along the southeastern coast of South America demonstrate that it responds
strongly to changes in rainfall that are driven by El Ni¤o events.
The Regional Group of the OSNLR Project (Ocean Science related to Non-Living Resources)
of the IOC proposed to study the effects and recurrence of these episodic phenomena.
Objectives comprise: the analysis of tidal and meteorological time series, the measurement
of morphodynamic changes, the co- ordination of the consulting scientific availability,
the proposal of environmental regulations for the coastal zone, the construction of risk
maps, and the organisation of training courses. The results would "overflow" to
other international programs (LOICZ, IGCP 367, IPCC, INQUA).
From 1988 to 1994, Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay have been involved in an OSNLR Project
for the South West Atlantic Ocean. This program has been supervised by a joint regional
program for the 3 countries ("Atl ntico Sud Occidental Superior", ASOS).
The first product of this project is a series of sedimentological and bathymetric maps of
the platform shelf, with morphological reference to the coastal plain (Martins and Correa,
1996).
This project was originally proposed during the Montevideo ASOS meeting (1994) and
confirmed in the next meeting (Mar del Plata, 1995). The co-ordination of this project was
already established with research groups from the universities of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ),
Sao Paulo (USP), Curitiba (UFPR), Itajaˇ (UNIVALI), Florianopolis (UFSC), Porto Alegre
(UFRGS), Rio Grande (FURG), Montevideo (UR, SOHMA), Buenos Aires (UBA, SHN), La Plata
(UNLP), Mar del Plata (UNMDP) and Bahˇa Blanca (UNS).
| 3.6 |
STORM SURGE FORECAST SYSTEM FOR THE SOUTH-WESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN |
Ricardo de Camargo, from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences of University of Sao
Paulo (IAG- USP), presented the results of work on storm surge numerical modelling for the
region. Storm surges over the Atlantic coast of South America have important effects in
terms of coastal erosion, sediment dynamics and harbor activities, among others. The aim
of the project is to present a numerical system for storm surge forecasts in the
South-Western Atlantic Ocean, basically for the northern Argentinean and Uruguayan shelves
and the South Brazil Bight shelf, hereafter called SWAO region. The system will be able to
provide information on disturbances in the surface elevation and shelf current fields
related to the passage of meteorological systems over the studied area. It is very
important to mention the cyclogenetic characteristics of the region of interest, which
play an important role in storm surge events.
Mesoscale meteorological forecasts for the study area can be supplied by operational
runs of the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS) at the Department of Atmospheric
Sciences of University of Sao Paulo. The model assimilates large scale analysed and
predicted fields provided by global models (normally NCEP and CPTEC, and occasionally
ECMWF) and improves the forecast considering regional aspects in a 32km grid.
The oceanic part of the system is based on the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) simulations
for the SWAO area with approximately 10km resolution, forced by predicted wind fields
provided by RAMS as described above. The use of mesoscale wind fields in previous
hindcasting simulations shows better results in comparison to wind fields taken directly
from global models.