[Sdi-latinamericacaribbean] Report of 2010 Caribbean Marine Atlas (CMA) meeting available

[Kate Lance]

http://www.iode.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=26&Itemid=115

The Report of the 2010 Caribbean Marine Atlas 
(CMA, http://www.caribbeanmarineatlas.net ) Review and Planning Workshop as well 
as Saint Lucia Coastal Atlas Stakeholders Event is now available as IOC Workshop 
Report No. 235.  These meetings were held in Saint Lucia on 2-6 August 2010.
http://www.iode.org/components/com_oe/oe.php?task=download&id=11005&version=1.0&lang=1&format=1

During the 2010 CMA Review and Planning Workshop participants assessed progress 
of the CMA project at the national as well as regional level. In particular they 
(i) Received a review of the progress of the atlas and were given a 
demonstration of the atlas prototype; (ii) Gained a better understanding of the 
challenges, benefits and goals of web atlases and environmental data 
dissemination platforms in general; (iii) Identified the necessary inputs (area 
of focus, data partners, themes, functionality) for the development of their 
respective national atlases; (iv) Determined the steps required to implement a 
national atlas (workplan) and developed a tentative timeline (schedule). 
Additional training requirements were also identified (to be addressed in 2011).
The Saint Lucia Coastal Atlas Stakeholders Event aimed at sensitizing the local 
marine and coastal zone stakeholder community to the national marine atlas 
project and its progress, receive feedback and identify potential partners. The 
event was well attended, with representatives from government (Fisheries 
Division, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Marine Police, Survey Department, Physical 
Planning Unit, Crown Lands Division), private sector stakeholders (Saint Lucia 
Air and Seaports Authority, Soufrierre Marine Management Authority, Watercraft 
Committee, Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay Marinas, Saint Lucia National Trust) and 
international governmental organizations (UNEP CEP, Caribbean Environmental 
Health Institute, Organization of Eastern Caribbean States). The stakeholder 
workshop itself was found to be a highly useful tool in the national atlas 
development process. Such workshops not only make potential stakeholders aware 
of the initiative and its goals, but also permit the national coordinators to 
receive feedback from national atlas users on the types of information and 
functionality they would like a marine atlas in their country to have, and 
identify potential data and management partners. Furthermore, the events can 
raise support for the project from multiple sectors and high-level 
administrators, providing momentum for its development and enhancing the chances 
that the project will be successful.


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.gsdi.org/pipermail/sdi-latinamericacaribbean/attachments/20101126/bd353f40/attachment.html>