Island and Ocean Ecosystems
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment programme will be forging a closer relationship with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration following the signing of a Statement of Intent between SPREP and the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries between the Director General of SPREP, Mr Kosi Latu and Mr John Armor, Acting Director of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

While the collaborations between SPREP and NOAA will initially focus on Marine Protected Areas, the two organisations will explore ways in which they can work more closely together on other issues of shared interest including protected and threatened marine species, marine debris, ocean observing, and climate change research pertaining to adaptation and mitigation.

onms-sprep-signingDirector General of SPREP, Kosi Latu, with Acting Director of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, John Armor. Photo: NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a member of the Pacific Meteorological Council and works closely with the SPREP through the Pacific Meteorological Desk Partnership. NOAA also supports the Pacific Islands Global Ocean Observation System (PIGOOS), based at SPREP, which helps implement the Argo program, a program to collect data on pulse, temperature and salinity of the ocean using a fleet of 3,000 sub-surface robotic instruments. NOAA also supports PIGOOS in implementing the SEREAD programme, which helps strengthen marine education across schools in the Pacific islands.

The signing of a Statement of Intent took place on the sidelines of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.