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Regional centres for marine science and technology
Krishan Saigal
The world is undergoing a process of transformation. Analysis of the long-term trend of forces leads to the change being characterized as approaching the emergence of an "information society"1; of a "new wave" overlying the earlier agrarian and industrial "waves"2; of a "turning point" in modern-day civilization with the inculcation of non-materialist values3; of the emergence of the post-industrial society, the third industrial revolution, etc.4 The common factor underlying all prognostications is the recognition of technology being a significant driving force underlying the changing world scene.
Ecological considerations and the awareness that the resources of the globe were being depleted at a fast rate and likely to have grave implications for the coming generations not only led to the concept of "sustainable development", but also to a growing awareness of the serious ecological consequences of the growing technological "gap" between the developing and the industrialized countries.
The Brundtland Report and UNCED called for cooperative action between the industrializing and industrialized countries, taking note of the growing technological gap between the developing and the developed nations, especially in the area of technological developments, and called for an organized effort to develop and diffuse such technologies Besides being innovative and socially acceptable, such technologies needed to be in harmony with environmental factors.
Attention was also drawn to the systemic nature of the changes taking place. The challenges arising from these changes are intertwined so that separate policies and institutions could no longer cope with the interlinked problems. The need, therefore, was not only for integrated policies but also for a major re-orientation and restructuring of institutions at the national, regional, and global levels.5
Simultaneously, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the European Economic Community (EEC) identified six and nine technologies respectively, as the leading edge of the industrial wave of the future. Both the EEC and UNIDO included marine technology as the high technology of the twenty-first century. A United Nations document linked marine with all the high technologies that characterize the leading edge of the new (or third) industrial revolution.6
UNIDO had been assessing the impact of the new technologies on the developing countries and saw in these developments, and in the changes taking place, both a danger and an opportunity - the danger of being marginalized in the world order, and the opportunity of developing an alternative path of technological growth. It envisaged the setting up of centres in the frontier technologies of micro-electronics, new materials, marine industrial technology, and energy as being of critical significance.7
The EEC in the light of emerging developments established the EUREKA and EUROMAR systems for promoting high technology. In these systems, industries from two or more countries could identity research and development projects from the specified areas and submit them to the respective national coordinators. If found suitable, they would be submitted to the Conference of Ministers for a final decision. On approval, half the cost of the projects was to be borne by the participating enterprises and the other half by the respective governments and the EEC (where the EEC is a participant). The final product is the property of the enterprises and is available to the concerned countries and the EEC on normal terms. The EUROMAR system seeks to promote synergy through private sector-public sector cooperation.8
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLOSC) addressed the question of upgrading science and technology skills in developing countries. Besides stressing the need for establishing national S&T centres (art. 275) it devoted two articles to the establishment and functions of regional centres for S&T (arts 276 and 277). It stressed that the regional centres should disseminate, inter alia, marine science and technology data and information, conduct training and educational programmes, do management studies, organize regional conferences, seminars and symposia, study programmes related to the protection and preservation of the environment, make a comparative study of transfer of technology policies, and technically cooperate with other states of the region.
Mediterranean Centre for Marine Science and Technology
In 1988, the International Ocean Institute undertook a feasibility study on the modalities of establishing a Regional Centre for Marine S&T (Meditech) in the Mediterranean.9 The study was based on the need:
- to implement arts 276 and 277 of UNLOSC;
- to build on the UNEP Regional Seas Programmer
- to adopt the EUREKA/EUROMAR system of EEC for Meditech;
- to enable developing countries to acquire high technology;
- to have technology co-development instead of transfer; and
- to have South-South and North-South cooperation.
The above parameters were considered essential if the technology gap was to be bridged, sustainable development attained for the region as a whole, and unnecessary multiplication of institutions and duplication of effort avoided.
As the study progressed it became clear that the Mediterranean Centre posed some interesting design challenges. The countries of the Mediterranean varied from the most developed to those with very little developed marine technology. The countries could be roughly grouped into three categories based on their marine scientific and technological capabilities. There was one group of States (for example, France, Italy, Spain) with well-developed industrial capabilities, a large and variegated research establishment, and a capability to go through the entire process of development from the laboratory to the shop floor. Even these countries, however, considered themselves to be somewhat inadequate in the high-technology areas and so had joined the EUROMAR system.
There was another group of States whose industrial structure (and technological absorptive capacity) was somewhat lower than the first group but who had adequate manpower to undertake scientific and technological research in variegated fields. Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt fall within this category.
The rest of the Mediterranean countries had capabilities for oceanographic research but their manpower resources being limited, the work was spread rather thinly on the ground. These countries needed to augment their manpower and S&T infrastructure, pay more attention to market forces and concentrate on clearly defined technology missions.
The new emerging technologies place heavy demands on skilled manpower. These skills relate not only to the science and technology fields but also to risk management, financial management in a complex, high-risk and uncertain field, and management of systems related to inter-organizational interfacing and networking. Validated modules for such appraisal systems not being available, skills in the above fields cannot be acquired in a theoretical framework, but require on-the-job experience which can best be provided in the environment prevailing in the developed North. At the same time, the experience of dealing with high-tech in the countries of the South would be more relevant to developing countries. Meditech thus had to establish its human resources development strategy in close cooperation and harmony with both the North and the South. It would also have to learn how to interface with the variegated cultural, scientific, and technological demands placed on it because of the need to interface simultaneously with developed and developing countries. Most of the developing countries of the Mediterranean did not possess a well-developed industrial structure. The EUROMAR system could not, therefore, be transferred to Meditech mutatis mutandis since in that system the prime movers were industries.
We have already noted the asymmetrical position prevailing among the Mediterranean States, all of which had different perceptions of, and needs from, the proposed Centre. If one were to try and work out what was of common interest to all the States the result would be a set of activities which almost certainly leave out of consideration all areas and activities related to high-tech fields. On the other hand' if activities were to be those at the very frontiers of knowledge, the linkages would be more with Northern Europe, and non-Mediterranean, States than within the Mediterranean region.
The answer, therefore, had to be a role somewhere between the above highly polarized situations. A number of such roles, in an interfacing modular organizational concept could be visualized Some of them could be to:
a. collect and disseminate information relating to marine science and technology as well as the associated high technology fields;
b. provide consultancy and advisory services to the developing countries;
c. further technology development in the identified areas by:
- acting as a catalyst
- networking different research institutes
- acting as a coordinator and synthesizer
- promoting integrated technology transfer
- developing the technology itself;
d. promote development of scientific and technological skills through training programmes, symposia, seminars, and conferences;
e. promote the establishment of efficient, innovative and effective management systems in the field of research and development, environmental control, and marine resource exploitation.
Meditech could take up all the above activities in one large, integrated organization having capabilities relating to:
1. information collection, collation, and dissemination;
2. provision of advisory and consultancy services;
3. development of technology as a catalyst, through networking, coordination, etc.; and
4. promotion and development of scientific and technological skills and the establishment of appropriate management systems.
Since technology development would require defining technologies or sets of technologies likely to exhibit efficiencies over the next 25 years or so, capabilities in future forecasting would have to be an integral part of its processing system. Modern advanced technology is very much dependent on a select and skilled labour force which is capable of generating new ideas and methods capable of being proven by analysis and testing, besides having the skills necessary to integrate large systems. Successful R&D is also dependent on synthesis of scientific knowledge, technical abilities, market prospects and outlets, information about financing possibilities, and delineation of appropriate strategies if research and discovery (r) development (r) commercialization (r) industrialization is to take place smoothly. This would mean Meditech having to deploy a great amount of manpower of diverse skills and high quality, which besides being difficult to locate would also be very costly to maintain. This could raise expenses beyond acceptable limits.
Besides, the dynamic nature of high-tech dictated an organizational development paradigm where both structural change and management development processes are in operation. This could best be achieved, perhaps, by a modular approach where new functions and, where necessary, staff are grafted into or detached from compatible organizational structures. The nucleus organizational module of Meditech would be based on its acting as collector, collator, and disseminator of information. The information flow would be as in figure 1.
The "nucleus" Meditech would establish links with national agencies, R&D centres, universities, selected industries, associated high-tech institutions, the EEC, UN agencies, World Bank, etc., so that information about their activities, aid programmes, loan policies, marketing possibilities, and so on, could be collected, collated, and distributed. The benefits of such information flows could be considerable, for example, in the form of reducing, if not eliminating, duplication of efforts, of leading to more efficient international distribution of labour through the development of appropriate joint activities, and through the generation of new ideas and methods.
The next function Meditech could take up would relate to the holding of symposia and conferences for facilitating exchange of information and the development of group thinking. The same organization as for the nucleus could perform this task with the additional conference cost. Functions that could be grafted on later would relate to training and the provision of advisory services. Both need not be on the regular budget of Meditech but would be met by grants on a case-by-case basis from such organizations as UNDP, World Bank, EEC, and national aid agencies. The job of Meditech would be to draw up proposals and training programmes, etc., thereby helping the developing countries to channel their request to the right quarters. Meditech would also help in establishing laboratory-to-laboratory contacts so that scientists/technologists from developing countries could get on-the-job training from the institutions of the developed countries.
The training programmes would have the objectives of:
a. sensitizing national decision makers to the implications of, and possibilities inherent in, marine technology;
b. inculcating group thinking and through that, developing technological assessment and forecasting methodologies relevant to the Mediterranean;
c. inducing group forecasts of likely future developments in marine technology and their implications for the Mediterranean countries;
d. establishing multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional operating systems;
e. inducing knowledge sharing by training in methodologies being currently used in research including developments in software, techniques, and instrumentation;
f. developing methods of cost-effective surveys and management skills and procedures relevant to high technology and the Mediterranean.
Fig. 1 Information flow of Meditech
Functions relating to technology development would be added on at the appropriate time. Separate ad hoc project organizational teams for identified technology missions, as when approved by the concerned governments, would be established and funded out of the concerned project costs, and so would not be on the regular budget of Meditech. The operational modes available to the Regional Centres would be of catalyzer, promoter, coordinator, and developer. In all the cases the processing system would be as in figure 2.
Advantages of the processing system delineated in figure 2 are:
1. the system is in a dynamic equilibrium with advancing technology while at the same time taking note of national goals and policies, and the possibilities of marketing/commercializing selected technology;
2. the selected technology is socially relevant both to the developing and developed countries thereby saving on adaptive research;
3. critical elements useful to all countries are identified thereby lowering development costs;
4. the system leads to technological literacy in developing countries and sociological literacy in the developed ones, by having information flow of high-tech to developing countries and socio-cultural implications of high-tech to developed countries;
5. there is disaggregation of marine technologies into "basic packages" capable of interfacing with a number of types of finished technologies ranging from high technology to commercial technology to appropriate technology;
6. changes in work allocation (between existing institutions and Meditech) by the Council of Ministers, depending on availability of funds, could lead to various developmental hybrids.
In the above system, if the work is distributed entirely by the Council of Ministers to existing national institutes, Meditech would act as a catalyst and arrange for the networking of various institutes through appropriate work allocation. It would act as a promoter if the proposal submitted by it to the Council of Ministers, after appropriate interactions with the national institutions was based on its understanding of which future technologies were necessary in the Mediterranean context. Its role would be that of coordinator if the Council of Ministers were to entrust to it the job of coordinating/over-seeing the work being done in different laboratories/institutions. In its entire work, Meditech would be acting as developer of the technology.
Fig. 2 Processing system of Meditech
As can be gleaned from above, Meditech is a network consisting of four elements:
- The National Coordinators. These are appointed in each participating country. It is their task to solicit and preselect eligible projects for the system.
- The Meeting of National Coordinators. It is the task of this meeting to consider all preselected projects and identify the best and, where desirable, identify additional partners and funding sources.
- The Council of Ministers makes policy decisions, determines priorities and is responsible for the final selection of projects.
- A Coordinating Centre which services the other elements of the network and may assume a number of additional functions and tasks.
The structure and staffing of Meditech follows the expressed desire of the Mediterranean States for a lean and cost-effective Centre. Meditech is an organization that acts as a small hub of a network with operations as decentralized as possible. The objective of Meditech is not only to have joint development of technology through cooperation between the northern and southern States but also to generate investments.
The synergism generated by this system, integrating science, industry and government, private and public sectors, on a regional basis, is enormous. EUREKA, including EUROMAR, has adopted, in just over the first five years of its existence, more than 500 projects representing a total investment of over 80 billion French francs (about US$12 billion).10 The prospects of Meditech generating investments are thus good.
The model for regional governance developed during the course of the Conference Pacem in Maribus XIX has the following parameters:
| political | to have universal participation including hinterland States; |
| systemic | to have a holistic, intersectoral and integrated approach; |
| institutional | to avoid duplication and waste of resources; |
| informational | to develop networking including the South; |
| training | to develop skills in the South to augment participatory capacity and underpin technological and economic development; and |
| technological | to have joint development of marine technology. |
Meditech meets most of the requirements of regional governance as developed during the Conference. It could, therefore, serve as a model for adaptation in other ocean regions. In one respect, however, Meditech, along with the Regional Seas Programme of UNEP, differs from the Conference Model regarding participation by hinterland (landlocked) States. This is not in line with sustainable development and the integration of land and sea-based activities. Other regional models, as has been done by IOMAC, could perhaps remedy this lacuna.
1. Naisbaitt, John. Megatrend. New York: Warner, 1984.
2. Toffler, Alvin. The Third Wave. New York: Bantam, 1982.
3. Capra, Fritjof The Turning Point. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
4. Baber, Walter F. Organising the Future. University of Alabama Press, 1983, pp. 1-13.
5. WCED. Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
6. Ibid., pp. 60-61, 87-88, 310.
7. United Nations Law of the Sea, 1988, "Current Status of Deep Sea-Bed Exploration and Mining Technology." Kingston, Jamaica.
8. UNIDO. "Special Report of the Executive Director to the Fourth General Conference of UNIDO." Doc. No ID/319, August 1984, Vienna, pp. 14-16, 25
9. For information on EUROMAR system and prospects contact EUROMAR Secretariat, c/o Alfred-Wagener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, P.O. Box 120161, D-3850 Bremerhaven, Germany.
10. See Le Monde, 19 June 1991, "Economic", p. 21.
Regional cooperation in marine sciences
1.
Background
2.
Need for marine research
3.
International cooperation
4. Major phases of the development of
regional cooperation
5.
Some experiences
6.
Looking ahead
Gunnar Kullenberg and Agustin Ayala-Castañares
Regional cooperation in marine research and systematic observations is long standing. An example is the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), initiated at the end of the 1800s and the intergovernmental agreement formally concluded in 1902, only about 25 years after the meteorologists started their global cooperation in the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) (now World Meteorological Organization). At a later date, a milestone in the development of ocean affairs was laid down in the Santiago Declaration of 1952, announcing the 200-nautical mile extended economical zone limit for the Comisión Permanente del Pacifico Sur (CPPS), created at the same time. This has gradually led to an extensive cooperation of marine research and observations in that region. This was founded on a clearly identified need related to renewable marine resources of overwhelming richness.
Cooperation in research in the North Atlantic led to regional cooperation in fisheries management through a series of regional fisheries management commissions. This structure included an active participation of advice from the scientific community. In the CPPS region it worked towards the same end, but the other way round.
These examples, and many more, point to the necessity of the regional concept in the spectrum of scales as being important in fostering cooperation, including that of marine research.
The International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has realized this from early on. The Commission started fostering regional cooperation from its beginning by supporting and organizing at the intergovernmental level the Indian Ocean Expedition in 1960-1965. However, this was a regional endeavour carried out with global perspective and support; and has, to some extent, been a guideline to the regional cooperation ever since.
The regional subsidiary bodies of the IOC have been developed since the middle 1970s, and in particular during the 1980s. The basic ideas are that regional cooperation, including that of marine science, is a must, for the following reasons: because of the dynamics of the ocean and the marine environment (as well as its resources); a regional perspective helps define priorities and priority needs; the pooling of efforts; results are much more visible and convincing when seen in a regional perspective; it fosters regional and national development and supports a multilateral economy; and the need to address many marine problems on a regional rather than a national or global basis. Regional cooperation in marine matters is also easier than regional cooperation on land. Hence, the regional window is natural as far as marine sciences are concerned.
The debates during the UN Law of the Sea Convention formulation and the Convention itself help develop these ideas considerably, mainly through regimes inherent or specific to the Convention. This has also, as evidenced in the Arctic Sea and many other places, gradually generated a regional debate and discussion.
The lessons learnt for the future include: the "identification" and "identity" complex; and partnership (similar to twin-cities in a terrestrial comparison); the critical mass complex; the need for a long term (decadal) policy and plan, which includes a common interest and common priorities; the need for governmental commitments and involvement; the associated need for regional, not external, governance of the region; the stimulation to be obtained from regional cooperation as a driving factor; the creation of IOC regional sub-commissions on the basis of the start made through regional committees; the cooperation and complementarily of IOC and UNEP regional actions and the gradually increasing interaction of these regional bodies.
The future lies in the ability to convince support systems and individual government institutions of the benefit of multilateral cooperation supplementing the bilateral aid or donor activities. There is also a need for an increased coordination and cooperation between donor institutions. Without a change in attitude and development of a global solidarity, the aid for development will not suffice.
The adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has stimulated coastal States to increase their understanding of maritime areas adjacent to their coasts through the application of marine science and technology. The Convention provides a definition of the extent of a coastal State's jurisdiction. It established the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of up to 200 nautical miles within which the coastal state may exercise sovereign rights with regard to the utilization and management of natural resources, living and nonliving, in the water, seabed and subsoil, The Convention makes provision for scientific research within the marine areas under national jurisdiction and the EEZs of coastal States. In general, the coastal seas are now a "national resource" and the new UN Law of the Sea calls for regional cooperation in formulating and implementing management and conservation strategies.
Long-term systematic research and observation programmes should be organized according to a globally coordinated strategy to monitor the changes in the state of the marine and coastal environment and of ocean processes, and their interaction with atmospheric and terrestrial processes. The results of the research and observations should be critically evaluated and widely disseminated through easily accessible databases. For the future it is important that the gap between developed and developing countries is bridged and further steps taken, as far as possible, to fully re-establish the confidence and partnership between governments and scientists. Steps should be taken to ensure a rational application of the provisions of the consent regime, which would, at the same time, benefit the development of the scientific capability, especially of the developing countries and the international scientific cooperation. In this respect, some of the major question marks, for example, with regard to the role of the oceans in global climate change, need to be addressed.
The increasing world population places an ever-growing pressure on land-based resources. The demand for marine products and ocean services will increase in parallel and increase the need for marine research and services. The living resources of the oceans have been exploited over very long periods of time through traditional fisheries operations, but the new era of cultivating the marine living resources, exploitation of the mineral resources and ocean properties, through the application of modern science and technology, has scarcely begun.
The solution to global problems must be sought through international and intergovernmental cooperation. Decisions are needed now to enable the world community, by a collective scientific effort at national, regional, and global levels, to understand global change of which the ocean is a major element. Through improved knowledge of the ocean and its resources, on local, regional, and global scales, Member States can strengthen their capabilities for socio-economic progress while contributing to the well-being and sustainable development of humankind as a whole.
In spite of great technological developments, many challenges remain to be met. The cost, scale, and complexity of global ocean studies demand clear goals, international cooperation, and the coordination of common services. However, studies of the ocean and plans for exploitation are often poorly integrated. National policy for marine affairs is usually fragmented among government departments, for example, with separate responsibilities for energy, mineral resources, pollution control, fishing, shipping, and defence.
The key to progress must be cooperation by governments. They must make the long-term commitment to fund the necessary research and associated interpretation of results for management use, the long-term observing systems, and data evaluation. Global studies are beyond the resources of any single national authority. There must be a willingness on the part of governments and scientists to work together over a long period of time. Cooperation will include shared operation of technical facilities such as ships, satellites and new automated devices, and the facilitation of access to EEZs for routine ocean monitoring purposes.
Observations from satellites will revolutionize marine measurements over the next 20 years. These should be available to all scientists working on global and regional studies. Existing international framework for ocean data analysis and exchange have established a system which works, and which is often cited as an example for other environmental services. The existing mechanisms for coordination and cooperation, in particular IOC, have played a major role in this development. However, exchange mechanisms are under-funded and in some countries they no longer operate. Valuable data, needed for studies of climate and pollution trends, have already been lost.
What kinds of marine research are needed for sustained development? What are the needs of third world countries in this regard? How can industrialized nations, the scientific community, and funding agencies cope with these needs? Where should the money come from and where should it go? Major restructuring of approaches to partnership and cooperation in the fields of marine science and services is needed if the problems facing the world community are to be adequately addressed.
The following major directions should meet the challenges and opportunities. Many are now being addressed through ongoing programmes, but achieving them fully will require concerted action and commitments by governments and international coordination to the end of the century and beyond:
a. Global climate research programmes and the associated large-scale oceanographic experiments to observe and understand air-sea interaction, the impact of the ocean on climate, and the impact of changing climate on the ocean.
b. Research and monitoring of marine pollution to measure and assess the effects of human activity, notably those resulting in degradation and contamination, especially in the coastal interface zones.
c. Study of the marine environment as a whole - both coastal and open-ocean - its physical and biological parameters and processes, with emphasis upon its role as a residence for living resources, its geological and geophysical properties, including non-living resources in shallow and deep-ocean areas, and the interfaces between the ocean, its floor, and the atmosphere.
d. Accelerated development of ocean services, including observing and monitoring data exchange and product producing systems leading to a Global Ocean Observing System in support of marine research and ocean use, as a common service to Member States and their marine user communities.
It should be noted that different countries have differing needs and opportunities in the fields of marine science and that the state of marine science development in a particular country may not reflect its overall stage of development. In some instances, developing countries have well-established marine science capabilities. In most cases, spending is very limited and funding for research is largely directed to the investigation of immediate, resource-related problems. Little is invested, either nationally or internationally, in strengthening the capabilities of these countries in addressing more broadly based research problems. The limited national investment in science education in many countries frequently results in general shortages in skilled scientific and technical manpower in science-related fields which, in turn, results in competition for such scarce resources between marine science and related professions. Regional cooperation is a mechanism to help solve some of these problems, and to assist in the establishment of partnerships.
An important aspect of future directions in marine science must encompass the integration of open-ocean research programmes with those on shelf seas and in the coastal zones. Consideration of open-ocean processes in isolation or separately from the processes occurring in coastal zones will be counterproductive in the face of global climatic changes and sealevel rise. This needs to be taken into account in the regional cooperative programmes.
The challenge for marine science is therefore not only to address its current role but to redefine its objectives such that new goals and targets can be met expeditiously and economically. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provides an initial framework within which marine science and marine scientists in different countries may engage in partnership to achieve these new goals. This requires the establishment of linkages and support structures throughout the global scientific community; the provision of training opportunities and/ or the necessary equipment to establish an indigenous capability in various aspects of marine science; the provision of ocean services such as hazard warning systems, observation and monitoring networks, baseline modelling and data systems with inbuilt data quality assurance and exchange mechanisms; and through such mechanisms contributing to the overall sustainable development goals and strategies of poorer nations.
The introduction and the international endorsement of the EEZs have implied the addition of a new territory or region to the coastal States. This new territory has created new opportunities and obligations for the coastal countries. In order for those opportunities to be used it is, as on land, necessary to occupy the territory, and this is now gradually happening. The next century will see a growing occupation of the ocean space, and the traditional uses will be adjusted and expanded. Tourism for health, recreation, sport, combined with the leisure of the local population will be one area: but tourism adjusted to sustained development, or so-called "green-tourism." An associated expansion of the use of the ocean as a transportation means of goods and human beings is clearly to be expected. This will also occur in light of fossil fuel limitations. The renewable energy from the wind can best, and perhaps only, be used for transportation at sea and along the coasts. Ocean-going research vessels driven through sail technology are already in use; likewise for tourism and recreation, and these uses will expand. The thrill of sailing in a large vessel is exceptional for young people and for their physical and psychological training.
The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties helped to shape the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea which aims at a more just and equitable order that may meet the needs and interests of developing countries. The Convention encourages the cooperation of states, either directly or through international organizations concerned with marine scientific research, and the transfer of knowledge and technology. The Convention has now been signed by 159 States and ratified by 60 (December 1993) to enter into force on 16 November 1994.
Countries from north and south, against the background of the huge and complicated marine issues, have gradually realized the need for cooperation and the mutual benefits that can be derived. Pooling of resources, sharing of information, education and training are all essential elements to create a foundation for the global approach necessary if the major outstanding uncertainties are to be narrowed down and a better basis for making informed about the future shaped, so as to avoid additional immense problems for the future due to the present actions.