"New Direction of Ocean Research in the Western Pacific"

"New Direction of Ocean Research in the Western Pacific"
-Past, Present and Future of UNESCO/IOC/WESTPAC
Activity for 50 years and
the JSPS Project "Coastal Marine Science"-

at Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute (AORI),
The University of Tokyo
26-29 October 2010
In the past 50 years, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has promoted various programs in oceanography research, protection of marine environment and capacity building. Through these activities, IOC has thus contributed in developing the sustainable society. In this opportunity of IOC’s 50th anniversary, we summarize those activities, particularly in the WESTPAC region.

By the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Japan has been carried on the cooperative research program focusing on marine sciences in the coastal seas of the WESTPAC region with Southeast Asian countries since 1988. For the last 20 years, we can see remarkable progress in the fields of Material Transport, Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB), Marine Biodiversity, and Marine Pollution (POME) in the coastal regions of Southeast Asia.

Over 350 scientists from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Vietnam are learning the techniques, sharing the knowledge, deepening science each other under this multi lateral core university cooperative program "Coastal Marine Science". This 10-year program will be terminated by the end of March 2011.