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Good morning everyone and welcome to a very special event
this morning for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
My name is David Walden, I'm the Secretary General of the
Canadian Commission for UNESCO and it's our very great pleasure
to welcome, we'll say back, to Wendy Watson Wright.
But let me first give you a little bit of information about
the Canadian Commission for UNESCO in the context of why we
are having this particular presentation this morning.
UNESCO is the only organization in the entire United Nations
system that has National Commissions,
we are not employees of unesco, we are all Canadians who are
working for the advancement of the UNESCO's programs activities
in Canada and we'd like to take advantage of opportunites like
Wendy's visit to Canada to explain and provide more
information about what UNESCO is and does both
within Canada and Globally.
It also appropriate that we are meeting in this particular room
that is called Massey Levesque room,
it's a part of the suite of meeting rooms that belongs to
the Canada Council for the Arts which is the host
organization for the CCU.
Some of you may know that the Right Honorable Vincent Massey
and the Most Reverend George Henry Lévesque co-chaired the
royal commission on national development in the arts,
letters and sciences which reported in 1951.
Part of the mandate of that royal commission was to look at
methods by which the relations between Canada and the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization
could be conducted.
The thing that is important about this to us particularly is
that Vincent Massey led the Canadian delegation to the
founding convention of UNESCO so he had a very deep understanding
of what UNESCO and National Commissions were all about so
when it came time for Canada to explore this issue, we had
someone who was very deeply involved and already knew.
So I think its entirely appropriate that we're meeting
in a room named after a person who brought the sciences and
culture together in Canada and worked for UNESCO and so we are
having a meeting about science in an art council.
Wendy said she doesn't need a great introduction
to all of you.
I think you saw her background and cv in the invitation that we
sent, for those of you who don't know,
what it doesn't say thought and I think is also very important
is that Wendy is the first Canadian and the first women to
lead the intergovernmental oceanographic commission and we
are very proud of that.
So Wendy, with that
Thank you very much, and good morning ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to thank UNESCO Canada for the invitation to
be here, and to thank all of you for being here.
It is nice to see so many familiar faces in the room.
My talk today will be in four parts.
Many in this audience are familiar with the place of the
ocean in our earth system and the ecosystem services it
provides to us, but I will start with this story nevertheless,
as it bears repeating.
I will then speak a little about the IOC of UNESCO since it has
an important role to play in supporting the management of our
relationship with the ocean,
I would then like to move on to Canada and the ocean.
Finally, I would like to suggest a few areas where I see Canada
as having strengths and opportunities for leadership,
especially in ocean science and observations.
So what about the ocean?
As you know, it covers 71% of Earth's surface and accounts
for 97% of the Earth's water.
The ocean contains 96% of earth living space,
It provides 2/3 of the value of all the natural services offered
by the planet, and the oxygen for every second
breath that we take.
It has cushioned the blow of climate change by absorbing
25-30 percent of all anthropogenic carbon emissions
and 80 percent of the heat added to the global system;
it regulates our weather and provides food
for billions of people.
The ocean and its resources are a part of our common heritage
and an important part of many cultures,
whose beliefs and practices are closely associated with the
marine and coastal environment.
49 UNESCO World Heritage sites have been inscribed for their
coastal or marine values.
The ocean also offers exciting opportunities for the
development of new drugs to treat all sorts of human
ailments and 'non-market' benefits such as climate
regulation, carbon sequestration,
habitat and biodiversity, among many others.
The ocean is, in fact, priceless.
Worldwide, the ocean is a critical economic resource.
The value of marine activities globally is estimated at 5%
of global GDP, or about 2.7 trillion US dollars.
90% of all goods in the world are shipped by sea.
More than 40% of the human population lives in the coastal
zone, with projections that by 2025, this will reach 75%.
Fisheries provide about 4.2 billion people with more than
15% of their average per capita intake of animal protein.
Fisheries and aquaculture provide more than 180 million
jobs in the entire fish industry.
As of October 2010, 3.16 gigawatts of offshore wind power
capacity was operational, mainly in Northern Europe.
Offshore wind power capacity is expected to reach a total of 75
gigawatts worldwide by 2020.
In fact, the ocean supports many Industries,
not only fisheries and aquaculture, but also shipping,
oil and gas, marine and coastal tourism including cruise ships,
submarine cables and pipelines dredging, ports,
offshore renewable energy (wind, wave tidal), mining and more.
The ocean is an integral part of our planet and is an absolutely
essential component of human lives,
livelihoods and the environment that sustains us.
Despite our reliance on marine resources; ocean acidification,
climate change, polluting activities and overexploitation
of marine resources have made the ocean one of the Earth's
most threatened ecosystems.
I am going to give you only few examples of how human activities
threaten the ocean and its precious resources.
The ocean absorbs more than 26% of the carbon dioxide emitted to
the atmosphere from human activities.
The result is increased acidity (lowered pH) of the ocean.
This can reduce the availability of calcium for plankton
and shelled species, threatening their survival.
Since many of these organisms serve as the base of much of the
marine food chain the potential impact of acidification
on entire ecosystems can be dramatic.
In business as usual scenarios, the ocean could
become 150% more acidic by 2100.
Land-based sources (such as agricultural run-off,
discharge of nutrients and pesticides and untreated sewage
including plastics) account for approximately 80% of marine
pollution, globally.
Excessive nutrients from sewage outfalls and agricultural runoff
have contributed to the rise in the number of dead zones
(hypoxic area), from 49 in the 60s to over 400 in 2008,
resulting in the collapse of some ecosystems.
Nowadays, more then 245 000 km2 are affected,
equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom.
Over 80% of the world's 232 marine eco-regions have reported
the presence of invasive species which is the second most
significant cause of biodiversity loss
on a global scale.
Marine bio-invasion rates have been reported as high as up to
one invasion every nine weeks.
The world's marine capture fisheries
are in a severely troubled state.
The FAO estimates that 85 percent of fish stocks
are fully exploited, over- exploited, depleted
or recovering from depletion.
In fact, the ocean faces a multitude of interconnected
threats that is unprecedented in modern human history.
All regions of the ocean stand to be impacted by multiple
stressors in the near future, while over 40 percent of marine
ecosystems are already simultaneously facing several of
the major pressures outlined before.
The need to understand the complex interactions and
potentially cumulative effects of multiple stressors is a
pressing issue in marine ecology today.
So the ocean, once thought to be a vast,
resilient area able to absorb practically unlimited waste
and withstand increasing human population,
fishing and shipping pressures, is increasingly vulnerable.
As the use of ocean space and resources is an essential
component of global economic growth and prosperity,
we must shift our way of using the ocean toward a human-ocean
centred relationship where humankind would be "living with
the ocean and from the ocean in a sustainable way."
There is no universally accepted definition of the Blue-Green
Economy but key dimensions could include: A greater adoption of
renewable energy from the ocean.
Change in fisheries and aquaculture management regimes
at regional and national levels.
Adaptation to sea level rise and climate change.
Protection and restoration of ocean ecosystems and
biodiversity, including beyond national jurisdiction.
Active sea-floor management.
The development of blue carbon markets, etc.
lobal ocean economic activity is estimated
as I said at between 3-6 trillion USD /year.
This includes a wide range of ocean industries essential
to both current and future economic development.
A major change for future green management will also include
partnerships among industry, governments at all levels,
and communities.
For example, Future green practices in the ocean will see
major changes in the nature, location and intensity of
fishing and aquaculture.
This will likely include the development of off-shore large
scale aquaculture and the better management of fisheries,
including foreign fishing activities in domestic waters,
Green practices in aquaculture should promote the growth of
extractive species (sea weeds and filter feeding shellfish)
and lower trophic level farming which convert food to fish
protein more efficiently than carnivorous species.
This could also include Integrated Multi Trophic
Aquaculture, or IMTA, which provides the by-products,
including waste, from one aquatic species as inputs,
such as fertilizers and food, for another.
With significant reductions in ship source pollution
over the last three decades, technological developments
towards improved hull design, alternative sources of ships'
fuel, increasing fuel efficiency,
and enhanced concern for environmental matters,
maritime transport will be a core element
of the Blue Green Economy.
Technological advances are allowing deeper oil and gas
exploration and drilling but the impact on climate change from
the fossil fuel energy sector will put increasing pressure on
the energy sector to invest in alternative renewable
technologies in the future.
Earth's ocean contains large amount of untapped clean
renewable energy resources that can play a significant role in
our future energy portfolio.
Ocean energy sources could become the primary energy source
for some resource-rich coastal communities.
For tourism, greening the Blue Economy would imply switching
from non- sustainable tourism to eco-tourism and other
sustainable tourism practices that go along with the
generation of other forms of revenues.
Some countries with a rich underwater heritage,
such as Sweden and Turkey, have constructed major museums.
Palau, the Pacific Island nation that declared its waters a
sanctuary free of shark fishing, estimates the value to the
tourism industry of an individual reef shark
is 1.9 million USD over its lifetime.
In contrast, a single reef shark would bring only an estimated
108 USD in direct fishery revenue.
Marine biotechnology including the protection of intellectual
property rights will be an important part of the future
Blue Green Economy.
This implies greater protection of biodiversity
(including biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions, BBNJ )
alongside increases in investment in scientific
research and commercialization of new and existing
opportunities with sectors such as pharmaceuticals,
food production, and aquaculture all being important.
Regarding pollution, A combination of technological
advances through clean technologies,
aligned with much greater institutional willingness
to deal with difficult issues, and the application
of state-of-the-art policy, regulatory and economic
instruments, should provide a basis for reducing pollution,
especially the impact of excess nutrients
in the marine environment.
As the primary user of the ocean,
industry is well placed to develop and implement solutions
in response to society's increasing demands that marine
ecosystem use is sustainable and impacts are reduced.
Ocean industries also have a huge potential to collect
oceanographic and atmospheric data that contribute to better
modeling and predicting ocean conditions,
extreme weather events and climate change that impact
economies and livelihoods.
Developing public-private partnerships could be a good way
to find solutions to impacts and to improve ocean data.
So let me move on to give you a little information on the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO,
or the IOC, and where we fit in all of this.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, or UNESCO, was created 1945 in order to respond
to the firm belief of nations, following two world wars in less
than a generation, that political and economic
agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace,
but that peace must be established on the basis of
humanity's moral and intellectual solidarity.
UNESCO is the only body of the UN system having in its title
and mandate the "S" for Science, including natural sciences
and engineering, social sciences and humanities,
and of course ocean sciences.
Within the UN system, the IOC serves as the focal point
for ocean observations, ocean science,
ocean services and data and information exchange.
And the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea considers IOC to be
the competent international organization for marine science.
Currently, IOC has Four High Level Objectives which
correspond to the major challenges facing the global
oceans: First, preventing and reducing the impacts of natural
marine hazards, such as tsunamis or storm surges; Second,
mitigating of the impacts of and adapting to climate change and
variability, largely through our leadership of the Global Ocean
Observing System, or GOOS; Safeguarding the health of ocean
ecosystems, through leadership in such things as the World
Ocean Assessment, better known as the UN Regular Process for
Global reporting on the marine environment; And fourth,
promoting Management procedures and policies leading to the
sustainability of coastal and ocean environment and resources.
IOC carries out its work around the globe in conjunction with
and through its Member States, and its regional bodies
and offices shown here.
The IOC, as I've mentioned, is the lead organization for the
coordination of the Global Ocean Observing System, GOOS.
GOOS is a collaborative system of observations, where
the components of the system are funded by national sources.
The system includes satellite observations and in situ
observations which you see here, as well as operational observing
networks and sustained research-funded observing
networks and platforms.
The data from these observations feeds into data management
systems and the generation of products to reach users,
having impacst in science and more directly for society.
GOOS encompasses global-scale and coastal observations.
The IOC has successfully coordinated the Pacific Tsunami
Warning System since 1965.
And after the Sumatra tsunami of 2004,
the IOC received the mandate to coordinate the establishment of
3 more tsunami warning systems, in the Indian Ocean,
the Caribbean, and the Northeast Atlantic Ocean,
Mediterranean and connected Seas.
A key deliverable was reached in the Indian Ocean just a year
ago, when for the first time the IO Regional watch providers
took over provision of the warnings to national centres
in their own region.
The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange
(IODE) was established by the IOC in 1961 in order to
facilitate the exchange of ocean data among IOC Member States.
80 National Oceanographic Data Centers participate in IODE,
including DFOs Integrated Science Data Management group,
and it recently adopted as a key component the Ocean
Biogeographic Information System, OBIS,
from the Census of Marine Life.
The Census of Marine Life, which ran from 2000 - 2010,
was a global network of 2,700 researchers from over 600
institutions in 80 countries engaged in an international
collaborative initiative to assess & explain the diversity,
distribution, and abundance of marine life in the ocean.
OBIS contains nearly 30 million observations and is among the
largest providers to the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility.
Canada in fact made the presentation which led to IOC
assembly's adoption of OBIS in June of 2009 and Canada has been
a keen supporter ever since.
The IOC and the World Meteorological Organization
together have a Joint Commission,
unique in the UN system, for Oceanography and Marine
Meteorology, JCOMM.
Two technical coordinators work closely with operators from many
countries, of drifting buoys, moored buoys and time series,
ships of opportunity, and Argo subsurface profiling floats.
They ensure that these networks are being deployed to common
standards, and are sharing data in real time
with the entire global community.
FYI, Canada (Savi Narayanan)
was one of the first two cochairs of JCOMM.
And Canada has deployed 337 Argo floats,
about a tenth of all Argo floats deployed globally.
In addition to the more operational programs I have just
discussed, the IOC is responsble for providing advice to policy
makers and disseminating results.
An especially timely document, considering what has recently
come to light off the coast of British Columbia is the
Scientific Summary for Policy Makers on Ocean Fertilization.
This was provided at the specific request of the
International Maritime Organization with respect
to the London Convention/London Protocol.
IOC is also very involved in integrated management,
especially in developing countries.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is still
a relatively new and evolving concept but the integration
principle was developed in Agenda 21
from the first Rio summit in 1992, as a tool to
pursue Sustainable Development in coastal zones.
Also related to integrated management,
Marine spatial planning is a public process of analyzing and
allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human
activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic,
and social objectives that usually have been specified
through a political process.
IOC -UNESCO has developed A step-by-step approach for
implementing MSP which has been used by many countries.
And IOC continues to play a lead role in the Global Marine or
World Ocean assessment, till now known as the Regular Process for
Global Marine reporting and assessment including social
and economic aspects, which is expected to have
its first cycle completed by 2014.
it will coincide with the next review by the Commission on
Sustainable Development of the theme "Ocean and seas" .
Canada through DFOs Jake Rice and Renee Sauve has played and
continues to play a leadership role in this process.
And very recently, IOC has become involved
in ocean literacy.
This is a movement which began in the US in 2004.
Their Ocean Literacy Network has been working to describe and
document the science content and processes related to the ocean,
coasts and Great Lakes that should be included in all future
science education standards at the local,
state and national levels.
The EU is now embarking upon its own ocean literacy campaign,
and the IOC would hope to see this movement grow
around the world.
IOC/UNESCO has been a key player in the recent international
debate on Sustainable Development as it relates
to the ocean.
This debate was highlighted during the UN Conference
on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
During the Rio+20 negotiations, the ocean community mobilisation
was successful, with over 375 taking part in Oceans Day and an
unprecedented number of side events having been
organized around ocean issues.
As a result, the political declaration adopted by Heads of
States "The Future we Want", containes 18 paragraphs dealing
with "the ocean and coasts", which is very positive.
There is support among countries for the formulation of a
Sustainable Development Goal dedicated to the ocean.
And just two months ago, during the Yeosu Expo 2012,
whose theme was "The Living Ocean and Coast",
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon launched The Oceans Compact.
This new initiative is aimed at protecting the ocean
and the people whose livelihoods depend on it.
Its intent is to increase coordination of efforts within
the UN system regarding ocean protection.
It will also provide a platform to help countries protect the
ocean's natural resources, restore its full food production
to help people whose livelihoods depend on the sea,
and increase awareness and knowledge about the management
of the ocean.
In addition over 80 countries, civil society groups,
private companies and international organizations
declared support for the new World Bank led Global
Partnership for Oceans, signalling a commitment
to work together to restore the world's ocean.
Let me now talk a bit about Canada and its 3 ocean basins
The ocean is of key importance to Canada's culture,
environment, public health, and economy.
It is an integral component of the culture of many Aboriginal
peoples and coastal communities.
Canadians depend on the ocean to supply food, mineral resources,
transportation routes, recreation, and employment.
Canada's coastline has been estimated at approximately
202,000 km, BY FAR the world's longest and 5 times longer than
the next nearest country's.
Canada's ocean estate covers a surface area of approximately
5.6 million square kilometers, 9th in the world,
representing an area equivalent to about 70 percent
of Canada's land mass.
Canada extends from the Atlantic Ocean,
northward to the Arctic Ocean, and into the Pacific Ocean.
Each of Canada's three ocean areas is characterized by
distinct biophysical settings.
The Pacific Ocean contains some of the oldest deep water in the
world, rich in nutrients, yet low in oxygen.
Large amounts of freshwater inputs to the Pacific Ocean
contribute to a lower salinity than the Atlantic Ocean,
and drive large-scale transport of ocean water from the Pacific
to the Atlantic, via the Arctic Ocean.
Sea ice and associated temperature and light conditions
dominate the Arctic Ocean's unique physical environment.
Cold Arctic waters discharge into the North Atlantic,
driving vertical mixing within the Atlantic and contributing
to global circulation .
Despite large-scale exchanges of water,
ocean areas differ in circulation patterns,
physical environment, and geography,
which contributes to differences in biogeography,
biogeochemical cycling and contaminant concentrations.
These characteristics of Canada's ocean waters define in
turn the ecology and marine biodiversity that can be found
and put Canada in a unique position in terms of
contributing to knowledge of the world's ocean.
I've already mentioned the global Census of Marine Life
programme in which Canada played a huge leadership role,
the Chief scientist having been Canadian.
This initiative prompted an attempt at cataloguing the
biodiversity of the world's ocean, including Canada's.
The total number of species in Canadian waters enumerated
by 2010 reached a minimum of 15,988.
This increases to almost 16,500 species by adding seabirds,
sponges, cold water corals and invertebrates
around hydrothermal vents.
Canada also hosts 40% of the world's marine mammal species.
Activities dependent on the ocean make a substantial
contribution to the Canadian economy.
Fisheries and naval installations provided the
rationale for the first European settlement.
Fish processing, shipbuilding and marine transportation
followed, providing the basis for economic development
and growth on all three of Canada's coasts.
These ocean activities defined settlement patterns that
continue to this day.
New activities emerged over the years including tourism,
aquaculture, bio-technologies, specialized manufacturing
and oil and gas exploration and development.
A wide range of service industries supports
these activities.
Together, they create substantial opportunities
as well as challenges for more traditional uses.
Ocean related industries employ about 316, 000 Canadians
and contribute more than $26 billion
of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year (DFO, 2009).
This figure does not include the $100 billion trade industry
that is helped by Canada's marine shipping industry.
Marine sectors with significant impact on Canada's economy
include in order of importance by %GDP: Oil and gas,
transportation, tourism and recreation, Seafood,
national defence, public sector and research,
and manufacturing and construction.
Canada has, in the past, defined itself as a fishing and shipping
nation, with a long history and culture based on the rich
productivity and diversity of its ocean resources.
Having recognised at an early stage the importance of managing
these vast ocean areas, Canada was one of the first countries
in the world to take steps towards the elaboration of a
national ocean policy and the first to pass an Oceans Act
in 1997, a statute which formalizes,
in a comprehensive way, how Canada's ocean basins are to be
defined and managed.
Canada's ocean basins both define and sustain this nation.
They support a wide range of human activities,
as I have shown,
But here in Canada as elsewhere, the ocean has suffered as a
result of human activity - including overfishing,
pollution, and all the things we do that drive climate change.
Changes in Canadian species have been among the greatest recorded
for fish worldwide, particularly in the Atlantic,
where total biomass of species such as Atlantic cod,
American plaice, Acadian redfish,
roundnose grenadier and winter skate have declined by more than
90% since the 1960s.
Over-exploitation also affects marine mammals.
At least one species, the grey whale,
is no longer found in Canadian waters as a result.
We have previously spoken of Ocean acidification.
This had already been affecting the Canadian aquaculture
industry, as evidenced by the quote here from the BCSGA.
Canada is of course not immune from pollution,
in particular oil spills.
We know that Oil spills can have significant impacts on both the
environment and local coastal communities.
Spills can range from large quantities of oil from oil
tankers to smaller accidental discharges of oil and fuel from
smaller craft in marinas.
Across Canada, between 2007 and 2009, a total of about 4, 160
pollution incidents were reported to the Canadian Coast
Guard, of which about 1,580 involved oil spills from ships.
During the same period, about 30 pollution incidents involving
chemical spills from vessels were reported to
the Canadian Coast Guard.
Moving to the last part of my talk,
I would like to briefly mention what I see and hear are some of
Canda's strengths and to I hope generate discussion on
opportunities for Canada with regard to the ocean,
with a focus on but not limiting to ocean.
So where are Canada's opportunities
in ocean leadership?
Well, with all that ocean space, certainly Canada has great
potential to lead on greening its blue economy.
And marine renewable energy could be part of this.
Canada's marine energy sector is much like
the country and its population in general:
regionalized and relatively small.
As you can see on the second graph,
Canada is not among the 6 leading countries countries in
terms of Cumulative installed Offshore wind
power Capacity by Country, 2011.
Yet it has been estimated that Canada's current electricity
needs could be met 36 times over with domestic
offshore wind energy.
Canada's wave and tidal energy resources have been recognized
globally as one of the richest in the world.
The National Energy Board forecasts about 20, 000 MW
of ocean energy potential in Canada.
Indeed, Canada could potentially become a MRE champion.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management
also offer opportunities.
Canada does have experience and lessons learned it can share
with other countries who are not as advanced.
Integrated Ocean Management Plans have been completed in two
ocean areas and three more are nearing completion.
And with so much ocean and so many industries vying for ocean
space, again, Canada could show a great deal of leadership in
Marine Spatial Planning.
But it is on the S and T side where I really see strengths
and opportunities.
Certainly Canada's interest in understanding the global ocean
has inspired leadership in ocean observations.
For example, VENUS and NEPTUNE, headquartered at Uvic,
are considered to be the world leaders in cabled
underwater observatories.
Through fibre optic cable, seafloor nodes and innovative
scientific equipment, the observatory is changing the way
we study the ocean, providing scientific evidence for
policy-makers on a wide range of critical issues,
and developing new world- leading technologies.
The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN),
headquartered at Dalhousie University in Halifax,, allows
made-in-Canada ocean tracking and monitoring technology
to be deployed in all of the world's five ocean basins.
200 international researchers from 15 countries are partners
in tracking fishes and other marine species,
Most recently, funding for the new Networks of Centres
of Excellence of Canada (NCE) MEOPAR,
the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and
Response Network (MEOPAR) also centred
at Dalhousie University was announced.
MEOPAR is dedicated to addressing critical issues
related to human activity in the marine environment,
and the impact of marine hazards on human activities
in coastal regions.
MEOPAR is working to help reduce Canada's vulnerability
and exposure to hazards and decrease response time
when marine emergencies occur.
An anchor to all of this could be the federal Ocean Science
S&T map which was put together by the SBDAs
and published in early 2010.
This provides an excellent road map for the federal ocean S&T
community to reach out to universities, colleges,
the private sector and NGOs to come up with a national road map
for Canadian ocean S&T.
This could also be the basis for the creation or re-creation
of a Canadian National Committee on Ocean science.
A number of other countries around the world have such
committees, and they truly do allow ocean science to have
a unified national voice.
- this is the perfect time for Canada to do this!
The last point I would like to highlight today is Capacity
Building for ocean management.
Canada in the past has been seen as a pillar in building capacity
in developing countries with regard
to ocean science and services.
We know that the lack of human and institutional capacity in
ocean sciences, monitoring and management is a real barrier to
developing nations, particularly Least Developed Countries,
and Small Island developing States,
in their efforts to achieve sustainable growth.
As of today, we do not have a global baseline to assess
where countries are in terms of their infrastructure,
their scientific assets, expertise,
and more importantly how scientific results are being
used in the formulation of their ocean and coastal policies.
I strongly believe that in line with global strategy for
building national and regional capacity in transfer of marine
technology which IOC is in the throes of developing post
Rio+20, Canada could and should play a significant role in
realizing that strategy, and I would urge those of you in a
position to do so to ensure canada as a nation
is well positioned.
In closing, I would like to come back to the importance of the
ocean to the world and in particular, to Canada.
I believe Sylvia Earle, one of the planet's pre-eminent ocean
scientists has articulated well the importance of the ocean
for humankind and and the planet ecology.
She said: "Even if you never have a chance to see or touch
the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take,
every drop you drink, every bite you consume.
Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and
utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea" Canada
with by far the world's longest coastline and bordered
by 3 of the 5 global ocean basins can, indeed must,
be a player in ensuring the global ocean is respected,
protected and sustained.
I thank you very much for your attention and I look forward
to our discussion.