FINAL REPORT
UN Atlas of the Oceans: a digital, Web-based, interactive atlas on the sustainable use of the oceans Funding source:
Project Duration:
UNFIP NOAA (cash & in kind) UN Agencies (cash & in kind) Total
4 November 1999 – 3 November 2002
Project Symbol: GCP/INT/749/FIP
Budget (USD): 500,000 350,000 699,921 1,549,921
Operating and Technical Unit: FAO/FIR
1. INTRODUCTION “More than 2 years in development after a decade of planning, the Atlas of the Oceans represents the most ambitious global scientific information collaboration ever on-line and an international consensus-building tool expected to assist negotiations of future marine-related agreements” (The Maritime press News (27/6/02))
1.1.
Project Background
The UN Atlas of the Oceans is an Internet portal providing information relevant to the sustainable development of the oceans. It is designed for policy-makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and for scientists, students and resource managers who need access to databases and approaches to sustainability. The UN Atlas can also provide the ocean industry and stakeholders with pertinent information on ocean matters. In developing the content of the Atlas, the Atlas Technical Committee (made up of the representatives of the core agencies identified in Appendix 1) first identified all the topics needed for the Atlas to be comprehensive and authoritative. The UN Agencies and even the collaborators do not have all the information and knowledge required. The core agencies and the collaborators have provided the structure and software and what they know. Now the ocean community of scientists, managers, investors, and interested citizens are invited to add knowledge according to the expertise of each. While institutional arrangements are preferred, individual experts are also welcome, usually working as part of the editorial team of one of the agencies. The UN Atlas supports Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the blueprint for the sustainable development of oceans adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Development began in November 1999 by the UN agencies responsible for matters relevant to the sustainable development of the oceans and the advancement of ocean science as an initiative of the United Nations Subcommittee on Oceans and Coastal Areas of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (SOCA). With the dissolution of SOCA, its former members, comprising the UN Agencies and Offices listed in Appendix 1, have become the Atlas Steering Committee.