This year’s International Meeting is the World Ocean Network’s fourth, and follows those held in 1999, just after the International Year of the Ocean in 1998, in 2002, a few months after the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, and in 2006.

It will propose the first World Ocean Academy on the  9th May, 2010.

It follows the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands, 3-7 May, 2010 - UNESCO, Paris, FRANCE. "Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, Improving Governance;
Oceans, Climate, Biodiversity: from Copenhagen 2009 to Nagoya 2010."

This year’s Meeting takes place in a particularly active international context:

- Five months after the United Nations Conference on Climate Change - from 7th to 18th December, 2009 in Copenhagen

- Two days after the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands, on the theme « Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, and Improving Governance »

- During the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly.

Building on recommendations made at the 3rd

Chief among them are:

- The Campaign of « Responsible Seafood Consumption »

- The organisation of events in up to 50 countries for World Oceans Day. The United Nations have proclaimed the 8th June as an official celebration.

- The printing of « the Passport of the Citizen of the Ocean »  in new languages.

- The organisation of Youth Parliaments

- A number of international cooperation organisations have increasingly accepted the case for an educational dimension in their policy programmes. International Meeting, members of the World Ocean Network have contributed to the introduction or development of many different measures. Several important initiatives have got underway or their development has been progressed.

Whilst important strides have been made in public information, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done. The double challenge is to encourage everyone to preserve the planet’s ecosystems and adopt sustainable lifestyles, and, at the same time, persuade both public and private sector organisations to be ambitious in their political and economic commitments and in their community involvement.

More than ever, production methods and consumption habits are destroying fragile ecological systems and aggravating poverty. It is incumbent on the World Ocean Network to make the case everywhere, to mobilise organisations and, in view of the very challenges ahead, to be ambitious.

For more information and to register, see www.fourthinternationalmeetingwon.com