Keith Alverson Ocean Observations and Services Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO NASA, NOAA, JCOMMOPS, FNMOC, CRT, URK

GEO Coastal CoP GEO Plenary GEO Climate SBA

Major Accomplishments : Global Ocean Climate Observations  The ocean observing system for climate is 62% complete.  Reporting to UNFCCC ensures high visibility and national engagement.  Understanding of global climate change – particularly detection and attribution - has been substantially enhanced.  Development of a Global Framework for Climate Services is being enabled.

Major Accomplishments : Regional Observations for Societal Benefit  Relevant regional components of the GOOS are increasingly available in real time, enabling coastal hazard warnings and mitigation (eg. oil spills, storm surges, tsunami, cholera …).  Seasonal products derived from ocean observations are also starting to become possible (eg ENSO, Monsoon, drought, flooding and fire regime forecasts).  Quotidian services are being delivered (eg. Shipping and Port traffic optimization, offshore wind and drilling operations supported …)

Recent and Upcoming Publications

Many nations are not (fully) participating Broadest Participation: Tide Gauges Typical Participation: Hydrographic Sections

Implementing Coastal and Regional GOOS 1st GOOS Regional Forum, Athens, Greece, nd GRA Forum, Nadi, Fiji, rd GRA Forum, Cape Town, S. Africa, th GRA Forum, Guayaquil, Ecuador, th GRA Forum and 1 st Regional Council, Sopot, Poland, 10/2011 SAON SOOS

Regional Seas Conventions OSPAR 1972, 1998 HELCOM 1974, 1992, 2001 BARCELONA 1975, 1995 BLACK SEA 1992 Can they play an analogous role for regional GOOS to the one that the UNFCCC has played in developing the global climate module of GOOS?

Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems: global, substantial, not climate dominated. Halpern et al, Science, 2008

Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems: Early warning for management decisions?

Geneva Ministerial Call for Immediate Action. Presented to UN General Assembly (New York 22 September) and CBD COP High Level Segment (Nagoya, October) “ The issues of climate change and biodiversity loss are inextricably linked; each can exacerbate the impacts of the other, but at the same time there are policy options that can address both issues. The identification of such co-benefits is essential at global, regional and national levels. In particular the implementation of voluntary REDD/REDD+ mechanisms should be done to enrich biodiversity. ”

Upcoming Events Report on the Status of the Global Ocean Observing System for Climate Monitoring UNFCCC SBSTA-31 and COP 16 Cancun 29 November – 10 December 2010 Report on the Status of the Global Ocean Observing System for Biodiversity Monitoring. Convention on Biological Diversity. CBD COP 10. Nagoya October 2010 Call for Sustained, Integrated Earth Observations Group On Earth Observations Plenary 7 and Ministerial Summit. Beijing 3-5 November 2010

Sustaining the system Governmental engagement and willingness to commit resources for both implementation and coordination remains weak. Demonstrating clear societal benefits to catalyze ‘user pull’ requires better advocacy The observing system – especially the coastal module – needs redesigning to serve adaptation needs. Alverson and Baker, Science, 2006