As the lead agency representing the Department of Commerce at WSSD—and as the lead U.S. agency in the topic area for oceans—NOAA's presence will ensure that 1) important oceans, fisheries, observing systems, satellite and data partnerships will be highlighted and, in some cases, expanded; and 2) WSSD participants will be made aware of NOAA's products and services that further sustainable development worldwide.
Topics to be addressed by NOAA at the WSSD:
White Water to Blue Water
GISD
Monitoring Control and Surveillance
Coral Reefs
Global Observing Systems
RANET
El Niño
Global Drought and Vegetation
Large Marine Ecosystems
Economics
The United States will present a number of new partnerships at the WSSD. Among them are two in which NOAA is playing a lead role: "White Water to Blue Water" Initiative and Geographic Information for Sustainable Development (GISD) partnership.
The United States is also mounting an exhibit at the WSSD's Ubuntu Village. The exhibit highlights programs which promote sustainable development in the U.S. and abroad. Of interest to NOAA, the exhibit includes presentations on NOAA's efforts to work through the International Maritime Organization to establish an internationally recognized and implemented no-anchoring protocol for coral reef areas; and on Integrated Watershed Management.
NOAA is supporting its own exhibit front and center in the U.S. exhibit. The exhibit highlights the U.S. partnerships of "White Water to Blue Water" and GISD, as well as several high profile NOAA programs and activities which support sustainable development (i.e., El Niño Applications; Global Observing Systems; RANET (Radio and Internet for the Communication of Hydro-Meteorological and Climate Related Information); Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs); Monitoring, Control and Surveillance; Global Drought and Vegetation; Coral Reefs; and Information on the Economic Impacts of NOAA Science.
