10th Meeting of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Technical Committee

Report of the 10th Meeting of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Technical Committee FAO Headquarters Rome, Italy 8-9 November 2010

The tenth meeting of the UN Atlas Technical Committee (TC) was held 8-9 November 2010 at FAO headquarters in Rome. Tina Farmer (Chair) opened the meeting and welcomed all participants.

It was noted that Kevern Cochrane, Director of the Resources Use and Management Division of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Secretariat to the Atlas, was unable to attend the opening of the meeting due to a conflicting engagement. Farmer conveyed FAO’s firm commitment and support for the Atlas.

The meeting Agenda was approved and participants introduced (see Annexes 1, 2). Representatives of FAO, IMO, IAEA, WMO, IOC-UNESCO, UN-DOALOS, UNDP, UNEP, CBD and Census of Marine Life (CoML) attended in person, by videoconference and by audio conference. Farmer provided background on the Atlas and explained the purpose of the Technical Committee Meeting.

Farmer reminded participants that the Atlas operates under the authority of UN-Oceans, the interagency coordination mechanism on oceans and coastal issues within the UN System, which acts as the Atlas’ Steering Committee. The mandate of the Technical Committee is to review the current status of the Atlas as well as to agree on a work plan for maintenance/development activities.

To better frame and guide discussion during the TC, Farmer stated that, reflecting agreements reached at the last UN-Oceans meeting held in May 2010 in Paris to develop closer links between the UN Atlas and UNOcean, the main intention of the TC would then be to find ways to best make such connections.

1. Report of the Secretariat 1.1 Status and update of Atlas The Secretariat provided a broad overview of the Atlas (see Annex 3), highlighting actions since the last Technical Committee meeting (March 2007). Informal discussion followed regarding technological developments such as the new server, promotional activities, membership numbers and the monthly newsletter. There was discussion regarding Web trend statistics of viewers, noting inconsistencies since the new server was installed at the end of 2008.

1.2 Budget and financial outlook The Chair welcomed the financial commitments received following the UN-Oceans meeting, leaving the Atlas with a balance of USD 31,000 at November 2010 and further commitments yet to be received of USD 21,000. The overall budget was discussed. IOC and CBD stated the possibility of commitment funds where there are clear linkages to specific programmes (i.e. Assessments of Assessments and Deep-sea biodiversity).

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2. Report from UN Agencies and Atlas partners All participants reported on progress since the last meeting, with specific reference to updating of content and future commitments to the Atlas (see Annex 4 for individual reports submitted).

UN Agencies – summary overview CBD – would like to include the COP-10 outcomes on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, in particular: Deep Sea, and Marine and Coastal Biodiversity: Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, over the next two years.

DOALOS – has been focusing on the restructuring of its own Web site and needs a way to incorporate new information from there into the UN Atlas. It is in the process of updating areas under its responsibility on the UN-Atlas.

FAO – beyond the FAO fisheries and aquaculture section, FAO also contributes regularly on food security and climate change. It also provided a model for KO pools using information from the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Web site directly imported to the UN Atlas. FAO also continues to look after the dedicated e-mail account and prepare and distribute the monthly Atlas newsletter, one of the principal vehicles for promoting and communicating about the Atlas.

IAEA – has updated its main page, MARIS Information system and upcoming symposium. Proposes a topic on ocean acidification and including information on coordinated research project information (IAEA-MEL).

IMO – has been updating main articles through specific links within IMO Website and associated Web sites (e.g., GESAMP, London Convention), including press releases, but not the text itself. IMO has been focusing on the development of a new Web site and as a result must review/control links to the UN Atlas. Suggested the possibility of adding to the existing topics on oil spills and oil pollution from ships (through a third collaborator).

IOC – currently updating its Web site. IOC proposes an integration of the wealth of information included in the Assessment of Assessments (AoA), which is updated every 4 years, as a new Worldview to be called State of the Oceans. Proposed various ways to enhance mapping data through a demonstration of the SOCAT theme for surface CO2 and Google Earth connectivity.

UNDP – has updated its project information and specifically suggested including Marine Development projects within Large Marine Ecosystems.

UNEP – currently updating its Web site. Key issues to include and topics to develop are Regional Seas and Marine Protected Areas.

WMO – has launched a new Web site at www.wmo.int (formerly www.wmo.ch) with a thematic approach.

Recommends wider development of the climate change topic, suggesting that joint projects or working arrangements such as the Joint IOC/WMO Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), should be included and made more visible.

Other Atlas partners CoML – with the conclusion of the Census of Marine Life, and the integration of OBIS into IODE-IOC, revisions to the Biology section of the Atlas are required.

3. Atlas editorial and technical issues The Terms of Reference for the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site enhancements (see Annex 5), as presented by the Secretariat, was noted. The following items were considered.

Content

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In a discussion of Atlas content, various sections of the Atlas were projected on the screen to look at the material available. Generally, participants recognized that it was vital and timely to update content for which they have responsibility in order that the Atlas remains relevant for users. One way to do this would be by the enhanced use of KO pools, so that information held on Agency Web sites could be more easily accessed by the UN Atlas of the Oceans. This would also require the assistance of IT staff at each UN Agency. In addition, the following items were raised: • update the current Atlas glossary to include those available from partner agencies • insert calendar functionality e.g. Google Calendar • explore possibility of incorporating e-learning materials (e.g. from IAEA, IOC) into the Atlas, maybe through an e-learning tab Geographic dimension The Committee agreed on the opportunity to revise the Geographic World View. A proposal for enhancing the Topic was presented by the Secretariat according to the Terms of Reference for the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site Enhancements covering the following aspects: • prepare and publish all entries for Geography • prepare the country pages to provide more information using KO pools • increase the presence of links to spatial information related to Oceans, possibly using Google mapping functionalities (already existing in IOC and WMO) General issues/observations • Establish closer linkages to thematic/programme work of partner agencies by including more reports that are outcomes of UN Agencies’ projects • Need to systematically revise key topic pages across the site to ensure information is up-to-date and relevant • Suggest archiving outdated Knowledge Objects (KOs), which would make pages less cluttered th • In support of the 8 UN-Oceans meeting in May 2010 recommending closer collaboration with UNOceans: o UN Atlas should be used as one of the main awareness/advocacy tools of UN-Oceans, to be promoted by the relevant UN Agencies and Programmes o UN-Oceans Task Force on Oceans Outreach should work more closely with the UN Atlas of the Oceans, with the Atlas as the signature product of UN-Oceans o FAO, as the Atlas Secretariat, hosts the UN-Oceans Web site and will maintain it

It was generally agreed to: • review content whereby each Atlas partner should regularly update material under their responsibility, taking into account the more thematic-based structures (e.g. revised IOC and WMO Web sites) • collaborate more closely with UN-Oceans to raise visibility and promote work of UN-Oceans partners • develop a new World View within the UN Atlas termed State of the Oceans that includes the Assessment of Assessments (AoA) and other outcomes of UN-Oceans agencies and Atlas partners (including areas beyond national jurisdiction/high seas, CoML 2000-2010). This would involve modification of the homepage graphics.

4. Hardware and software issues Giorgio Lanzaroni (FAO) provided a review of the CDS – the in-house software developed specifically for the Atlas in 1999 and currently running more than a dozen other sites – outlining benefits and disadvantages.

While the trend is to use open-source software, given the specific needs and evolution of the Atlas, it seems reasonable to remain with the CDS for the near future. Nonetheless long-term support and maintenance will wane. He noted that the Atlas benefits from the new features and enhancements developed for the other systems using the CDS software. One great advantage is the Knowledge Object (KO) pool mechanism – a sort of key-word based content harvesting system – which could contribute to enhancing and improving Atlas

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content development. By establishing specific KO pools, information from UN Agency sites is fed to the UN Atlas system. This would be another way to enrich and update Atlas content while retaining the CDS software for specific uses.

It was generally agreed to: • maintain the system, upgrading and enhancing as possible • develop keyword-based content harvesting • improve search functionality • optimize the image gallery • add interactive calendar features • provide functionality for editors to view usage statistics • implement archive features • make improvements to the layout and design of the Web site • implement customised Google analytics to generate automatic Web trend summary reports • facilitate sorting KOs by date

5. Promoting the Atlas Ways to promote the Atlas, both internally and externally, were discussed, and it was agreed that this be done in conjunction with the UN-Oceans Task Force on Oceans Outreach, as follows: • remind all partners to have a suitably high-placed link or links to the Atlas from their pages • establish links from appropriate members of the ocean community • update brochures and posters to be distributed at meetings and symposia either hosted or attended by members of all partner agencies, available at: www.oceansatlas.org/html/docs/Atlas%20Leaflet%20update%202005.pdf • •

develop, produce and distribute promotional and communications material for on-print demand promote and publicize the Atlas within partners’ field units and collaborators - including through wider distribution of the monthly newsletter

It was generally agreed to: • update outreach and communications material, including coordination with UN-Oceans Task Force on Oceans Outreach • conduct a user survey to Atlas members to better determine areas for improvement or change and also to profile user needs and expectations.

6. Any other business and closing The participants expressed their appreciation of the meeting’s organization finding it practical to have a drafting group physically present with further participation through video and audio facilities. This model facilitated the discussions and was proposed for future UN Atlas meetings. The Chair closed the meeting by thanking all participants for their active and valuable contributions to these discussions. She was heartened by the commitment and support for continuing and expanding the Atlas.

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7. Action Items from Tenth Meeting of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Technical Committee ITEM Content update, including revision of Country sub-topics Draft letters to Agencies, as required, to secure funds Prepare draft letters for agencies to send to potential collaborators Update partner contact details Identify information within UN Atlas partners suitable to feed KO pools IT staff to assist by FAO IT initially preparing a background document for distribution Web statistics improvement and analysis Create Atlas user survey Develop a detailed proposal for the Worldview State of the Oceans Coordination of World Oceans Day through UN-Oceans Taskforce and promotion by UN Atlas Content update, key topic pages revision Content update, including revision of entry points Geographic section Update brochure and poster (for local printing) Coordinate the implementation of the Terms of Reference for the Web site enhancement

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RESPONSIBILITY Farmer/Carocci and all Farmer Farmer/Carocci

DUE DATE ongoing

Carocci/all All

End Nov 2010 End Dec 2010

FAO IT staff/Carocci

End Dec 2010

Carocci Carocci Farmer/Carocci

End Dec 2010 Feb 2011 Feb 2011

ValdĂŠs /Farmer

May 2011

Farmer Farmer/Carocci

End May 2011 End May 2011

Farmer Farmer/Carocci

June 2011 End 2011

ongoing End Nov 2010

List of Annexes Annex 1 – Agenda Annex 2 – List of participants Annex 3 – Presentations from the Secretariat Annex 4 – Reports from UN Agencies and partners (as submitted) and additional documents distributed Annex 5 – Terms of Reference for the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site enhancements

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Annex 1 – Agenda Opening of the Meeting The 10th Meeting of the Technical Committee will begin at 9:30 hrs on Monday 8 November, 2010 (Fisheries Meeting Room).

Agenda 1. Welcome and opening of the meeting (T. Farmer, FAO) 2. Adoption of the agenda (FAO) 3. Status and update on the UN Atlas (F. Carocci, FAO) • actions since 9th Meeting of the Technical Committee, March 2007 • overall growth (statistics, membership) • financial situation • outcome of UN-Oceans meeting of May 2010 4. Report from UN Agency and UN Atlas partners: status, issues, perspectives 5. UN Atlas editorial and technical issues (T. Farmer, FAO) • content review, improvement, expansion • technical improvements, enhancements • membership drive/campaign • widening partnerships 6. Future consideration for UN Atlas • priorities • minimum budget needs • roles and expectations • opportunities/risks • update of current UN Atlas development plan • maintenance of UN-Oceans pages within UN Atlas site 7. Any other business Closing of the Meeting

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Annex 2 – List of participants UN Atlas Secretariat Tina Farmer (chairperson) Communications & Publications Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39 06 5705 6846; Fax: + 39 06 5705 2476 e-mail: tina.farmer@fao.org

Ms Alice Hicuburundi Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea Office of Legal Affairs 2 United Nations Plaza DC2-0420 New York, NY 10017, USA Tel: +1 212 963 3969; Fax: +1 212 963-5847 e-mail: hicuburundi@un.org Mr Andrew Hudson Principal Technical Advisor, International Waters Global Environment Facility UN Development Programme FF-998 1 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 USA Tel.: +1 212 906 6228; Fax: +1 212 906 6998 e-mail: andrew.hudson@undp.org

Fabio Carocci (report drafting committee) Fisheries Resource Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39 06 5705 5176; Fax: + 39 06 5705 3020 e-mail: fabio.carocci@fao.org Participants Mr Emmanuel Bosc International Atomic Energy Agency Marine Environment Laboratory, 4 Quai Antoine 1er, MC-98000, Monaco Tel: +377 9797 7272 e-mail: E.Bosc@iaea.org

Mr Giorgio Lanzarone Information Management Officer Chief Information Officer Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39 06 5705 3805 e-mail: Giorgio.lanzarone@fao.org

Mr Edgard Cabrera (report drafting committee) Chief, Marine Meteorology and Ocean Affairs Division Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction Services World Meteorological Organization 7 bis, Avenue de la Paix Case postale No. 2300 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 730 82 37; Fax: +41 22 730 81 28 E-mail: ecabrera@wmo.int

Ms Jihyun Lee Environmental Affairs Officer for Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity 413, Saint Jacques Street, suite 800 Montreal QC H2Y 1N9, Canada Tel: +1 514 287 7035; Fax: +1 514 288 6588 e-mail: jihyun.lee@cbd.int Dr Frances Michaelis (rapporteur) UN Atlas of the Oceans and Visitor, Australian Institute of Marine Science PO Box 76 Townsville QLD, Australia 4810 Tel: +61 7 4724 4773; Fax: +61 7 4724 5819

Ms Marianne Harvey Maritime Knowledge Center International Maritime Organization 4 Albert Embankment London SEI 7SR, United Kingdom Tel: +44 207 587 3119; Fax: +44 207 587 3210 e-mail: M-Harvey@imo.org

Ms Iolanda Osvath International Atomic Energy Agency Marine Environment Laboratory, 4 Quai Antoine 1er, MC-98000, Monaco Tel: +377 9797 7272 e-mail: I.Osvath@iaea.org

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Mr Julian Ross Maritime Knowledge Center International Maritime Organization 4 Albert Embankment London SEI 7SR United Kingdom Tel: +44 207 587 3119; Fax: +44 207 587 3210 e-mail: J-Ross@imo.org

Ms Heidi Savelli Marine and Coastal Ecosystems Branch Division of Environment Policy Implementation PO Box 30552 Nairobi (Kenya) Tel: + (+254 20 762 5187 Fax: +254.20.762.4618 e-mail: Heidi.Savelli@unep.org Mr Luis ValdĂŠs (report drafting committee) Head, Ocean Science Section Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission IOC-UNESCO 1 rue Miollis 75732, Paris CEDEX 15, France e-mail: jl.valdes@unesco.org

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Annex 3 – Presentations from the Secretariat Part 1 and 2 of the presentations made by the Secretariat area available at: http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/FAO_Report_Part1.pdf and http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/FAO_Report_Part2.pdf

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Annex 4 – Reports from UN Agencies and partners Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO: The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO as a founder member of the UN Atlas of the Oceans fully supports the work of the Atlas partners and wishes to acknowledge their valuable contributions to this project. The 10th meeting is very welcome and opportune as it can implement some of the recommendations following the 8th UN-Oceans meeting held in May 2010, as for example that the UNOceans Task Force on Oceans Outreach (leaded by IOC) will work closely with the UN Atlas of the Oceans, with the Atlas as the signature product of UN-Oceans.

Financial contribution The IOC Executive Secretary, Dr. Wendy Watson Wright gave her support to the Atlas and instructed the Secretariat to make a contribution of US$7,000 in 2011.

Information Inputs IOC proposes an integration of the wealth of information included in the Assessment of Assessments (AoA) in the UN Atlas. The AoA will be a regular process and reports on the state of the ocean will be produced in a regular basis every 4 years, which can give a Worldview of the State of the Oceans. Therefore IOC would like to propose UN Atlas to develop a new Worldview section termed ‘Assessment of the Oceans’ (or similar) that will include the latest outcomes of UN Oceans agencies such as the Assessment of Assessments (AoA) from IOC. The Atlas is also seen in IOC as a powerful tool to promote current activities in the observation of the ocean and IOC would like to propose other ways to enhance mapping data through a demonstration of the SOCAT theme for surface CO2 (a product of IOCCP) and Google Earth connectivity to follow and download data from the ARGO buoys (a product of JCOMM).

Technical issues IOC is currently updating its Web site, which will take some time, and new entries will be arranged by High Level Objectives and by thematic topics. A list compiling the IOC Ocean Science section websites was sent as background information for the meeting.

As agreed during the 8th UN-Oceans meeting in May 2010, the UN Oceans files forming the UN Oceans web site and hosted by IOC, were migrated to UN Atlas (FAO, Rome). Links to both UN Atlas and UN Oceans will be available from IOC web site.

International Maritime Organization: Since the last meeting of the Technical Committee in March 2007, attempts to improve sections of the UN Atlas Website under the responsibility of IMO have been unsuccessful, notably the mainstay articles. Thus, updates to these articles were made through specific links within IMO Website and associated websites (e.g., GESAMP, London Convention), including press releases. This is compounded by the heavy workload of staff and therefore, very little time could be devoted to the UN Atlas. At present, IMO has overhauled its website and this will require the review of all links with the UN Atlas. Essentially, the lack of human resources does not permit the preparation or updating of the mainstay materials and, therefore, most of the materials will be reworked and will mainly be mirror images of what is in the new IMO website, whilst some of the old material will be maintained in an archive form.

On a positive note, we are pleased to report that the Organization has transferred USD 7000 for the UN Atlas.

Recommendations 1 IMO will review its links with the UN Atlas, including those associated websites under IMO and to fix problematic links accordingly.

2 IMO will review some of the mainstay articles and make revision as appropriate subject to availability of staff and funding, especially if this will be tied up with the 10th anniversary of the Atlas.

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International Atomic Energy Agency: Current contributions to the UN Atlas • In-kind o IAEA main page o The MARIS Information System o Symposium 2011 Financial o $7000 Future commitments • Main page of IAEA-EL •

•

Ocean acidification, o Link to Monaco Declaration on Ocean Acidification

• Coordinate Research Project IAEA-MEL are running Willingness to participate in collaborative funding: No formal commitment on contributions or funding of the Atlas can be made as this activity is not included in our regular budget Suggestions for improving the Atlas • functionality o In term of pages building, for some topics there are more Related knowledge listed per page (10) than Topics (5). It can be confusing at first approach.

Census of Marine Life: Background • The Census of Marine Life is a foundation partner of the UN Atlas of the Oceans. Since June 2002, the Biology section of the Atlas has been maintained by the Census and this accounts for between 510% of total Atlas content, consisting of Topic pages, Knowledge Objects, Virtual Conferences and editorials. Check Biology page at http://www.oceansatlas.org/id/17761 • A major Atlas activity remains the monthly electronic newsletter. The Census of Marine Life has featured in several editorials; most recently the September and October 2010 editions.

• The International Year of Biodiversity topic page was loaded in December 2009, and launched in the January 2010 newsletter. It has featured CoML activities throughout 2010. Check International Year of Biodiversity page at http://www.oceansatlas.org/id/219098 Future considerations • The finalisation of the Census of Marine Life at the end of 2010 and the need for an orderly transition for the Biology pages of the UN Atlas of the Oceans raise both policy and technical issues to be placed on the agenda of the next UN Atlas Technical Committee (UNATC10).

• Policy issues o A decision is needed about the Biology section, which currently has the banner Maintained by CoML and CoML logo to reflect its partnership status. If the maintenance were transferred to another agency, the Census banner would be removed from the Atlas entirely, less than three months after the Census outcomes were added.

• Content o The Biology section topic pages (51) would need revision to reflect the conclusion of the Census. The hundreds of Biology KOs might need to be migrated to a new structure. Census of Marine Life appears as an Editor in the left navigation bars of these topics and KOs. o Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a component of the Census, has been transferred to the IOC and remains within the UN-Oceans community so it will continue to be closely involved with the UN Atlas Biology section.

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The International Year of Biodiversity 2010 homepage might need to continue until after the September 2011 World Conference on Marine Biodiversity and the conclusion of CReefs, both supported by the Census.

• Technical o Could the banner Maintained by CoML and logo could be modified to Created by the CoML; maintained by? Which logo would be featured? Or both? o Archiving arrangements to ensure that a record of the Atlas as at 30 December 2010 is available to note the contribution of the Census.

• Possible solution o Create a new topic page entitled Census of Marine Life, add the Census outcomes and note at the bottom that the page would not be modified after 30 December 2010. This would feature as a Census legacy in an early 2011 newsletter. (Existing Census material to be removed from the Biology page, although a link would be retained). o Progressively move Census KOs relating to outcomes to this page. o Other pages in the Atlas would then have Census material progressively removed as it became out of date.

Conclusion • The Census of Marine Life is supportive of the creation of a new Census of Marine Life page in the UN Atlas of the Oceans as a legacy, to be promoted in early 2011. o

Additional documents distributed Convention on Biological Diversity • ADVANCE UNEDITED TEXT, 2 November 2010, CBD CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY. Tenth meeting. Nagoya, Japan, 18-29 October 2010.

Agenda item 5.2: MARINE AND COASTAL BIODIVERSITY/Decision as adopted http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/advance-unedited-versionmarine-and-coastal-en.pdf IOC/UNESCO • List of ocean science Web sites within the IOC, grouped by theme http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/OSS_web_sites_within_th e_IOC.pdf •

An overview of IOC current activities in ocean sciences, observations and services

http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/Overview_IOC_for_SCOR 2010.pdf •

Looking into the future of ocean sciences, an IOC perspective

http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/projectmanager/UNAtlasTechMeetingNov2010/23-3_valdes.pdf

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Annex 5 – Terms of Reference for the UN Atlas of the Oceans Website enhancements Terms of Reference United Nations Atlas of the Oceans (www.oceansatlas.org) Web site enhancements

Purpose Under the overall coordination of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Secretariat (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, with direct supervision by Tina Farmer, Editor, UN Atlas of the Oceans and Fabio Carocci, Technical development), contributions will be used for the maintenance, upgrade and improvement of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site content and system.

Background The UN Atlas of the Oceans is an Internet portal providing information relevant to the sustainable development of the oceans. It is designed for policy-makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and for scientists, students and resource managers who need access to databases and approaches to sustainability. The UN Atlas can also provide the ocean industry and stakeholders with pertinent information on ocean matters.

The Atlas includes four main entry points to access information: 1. ABOUT (the oceans) - from history, biology, maps and statistics to research, climatology and ecology; 2. USES (of the oceans) - from fishing, shipping and mining to tourism, dumping and marine biotechnology; 3. ISSUES - from food security and climate change to governance and human health; and 4. GEOGRAPHY - information categorized by geographical area The UN Atlas supports Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the blueprint for the sustainable development of oceans adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The development of the Atlas began in November 1999 by the UN agencies responsible for matters relevant to the sustainable development of the oceans and the advancement of ocean science as an initiative of the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) (formerly the Subcommittee on Oceans and Coastal Areas of the Administrative Committee on Coordination).

At the 8th Meeting of UN-Oceans (IOC-UNESCO, 5 May 2010), during the reporting of Agenda Item 5.3 on the UN Atlas of the Oceans by FAO, as UN Atlas Secretariat, all members agreed on the importance of sustaining support for the Atlas from the partners to ensure its continuity. Members further supported a funding proposal for annual contributions of US$7000 in order to prompt and generate new material and update current content, enhance system features and functionality and develop outreach material. Communications material could be re-used by partners at various events. These activities would facilitate the updating of the UN Atlas site, adding to its relevance and timeliness and broader coverage. These enhancements would also support the points raised in Agenda Item 10 on Future Direction for UN-Oceans which states the need to have greater visibility for UN-Oceans and to make the UN Atlas of the Oceans one of the main tools of UN-Oceans.

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Activities a. Maintenance, upgrade and improvement of the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site content and system b. Generate new material and update current content, enhance system features and functionality and develop outreach material.

Delivery Consultants will be recruited to prepare and implement specific material, as follows: SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT: IT (CDS) programmer 260€ /day (about 30 days=€7800) System maintenance, upgrades and enhancements: including to develop keyword-based content harvesting, improve search functionality, optimize image gallery, add interactive calendar features, provide functionality to view usage statistics of the site and implement archiving features WEB STATISTICS: IT programmer (US$2500) Implement customized Google analytics to generate automatic Web trend summary reports WEB DESIGN: Web designer 200€/day Layout improvements and modifications to the Web site

(about

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days=

€2000)

CONTENT: Writer/editor US$180/1000 words (about 88,250 words=US$15,885) Update main introductory texts (35 topics and sub-topics, c.12,250 words); prepare and publish all entries for 'Geography' (11 topics/230 subtopics, c.75,000 words); update all institutional information (partners, 16 entries; About the UN Atlas, c.1000 words); correct links; add related images and information where appropriate.

COMMUNICATIONS: Writer US$250/day (about 5 days=US1250); Graphics designer US$180/day (about 5 days= US$900) Develop, produce and distribute promotional and communications material for on-print demand, and update existing products: poster, leaflet, slide presentation, pop-up exhibition stand.

Outputs • Complete content under Geography • Edited main pages • Improved system search and content updating mechanisms • Web site statistics • Promotional poster, leaflet, slide presentation and pop-up stand on UN Atlas Results • Strengthened, more comprehensive and updated content • New calendar feature on UN Atlas site, with enhanced access to information • Systematic information harvesting and updating • Communications material for the UN Atlas of the Oceans available Monitoring & reporting FAO will send regular reports to all UN-Oceans partner contributors upon completion of activity blocks. A final report of all activity – ongoing and completed – will be made at the subsequent meeting of the UN-Oceans.

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Minimum funding requirements Activity SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT: IT (CDS) programmer 260€ /day (about 30 days=€7800)

Description System maintenance, upgrades and enhancements

Total (USD) USD 9,600

WEB STATISTICS Programmer

Implement Google analytics to generate summary Web trend reports Layout improvements and modifications to the Web site Update main introductory texts

USD 2,500

WEB DESIGN: Web designer 200€/day (about 10 days= €2000) CONTENT: Writer/editor US$180/1000 words (about 88,250 words=US$15,885) COMMUNICATIONS: Writer US$250/day (about 5 days=US1250); Graphics designer US$180/day (about 5 days=US$900)

Develop, produce and distribute promotional and communications material for on-print demand, and update existing products

USD 2,500

USD 15,885

USD 2,150

USD 32,635

Payment instructions Payment will be made in favour of FAO as follows: Account name: FAO Trust Fund US Dollar Bank: HSBC New York Bank address: 452 Fifth Ave., New York, NY, USA, 10018 Swift/BIC: MRMDUS33 ABA/Bank Code: 021001088 Account No.: 000156426 Please make reference to MTF/GLO/125/MUL

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