Following on from the success of AMEMR 2011, the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) is pleased to announce that the Fourth Advances in Marine Ecosystem Modelling Research Symposium is scheduled to be held in Plymouth, United Kingdom on 30 June–3 July 2014.

The Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) will hold its 9th International Scientific Symposium on 22-25 April 2014 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The event will be hosted by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and co-organized by the VAST Institute of Oceanography and the National IOC Committee for Vietnam.

Co-organized by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, the workshop aims to help projects and their partners communicate spatial data using maps by providing an in-depth understanding and transferring and enhancing the skills needed for spatial data management using best practices and standards.

Workshop participants are directed to see the Logistics Note for all relevant logistical information for the workshop.

Attendees: GEF IW projects from the Asia and the Pacific region, GEF agencies, regional organizations and interested IW projects operating outside the region.

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on 11 March 2011 caused nearly 20,000 people to lose their lives. Major damage and destruction occurred to buildings and infrastructure in the coastal zone that was flooded, with large societal impacts and social and economic consequences. Since the event many national and international post-tsunami field surveys have been carried out. Performance analyses of tsunami early warning systems in place at the time of this event have also been done.

The BIE-Cosmos Prize, EXPO 2012 Yeosu for The Living Ocean and Coast is the third edition of the BIE-Cosmos Prize series, born of an initiative between the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the Expo '90 Foundation (the Commemorative Foundation for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition, Osaka, Japan, 1990) and carried out in collaboration with Expo organizers.

In line with the global celebration of World Wetlands Day, the Philippines has declared 02 February 2012 as National Wetlands Day, where all sectors of society are encouraged to conduct activities to promote the conservation of wetlands.

PEMSEA will play part to an international conference that will see scientific and policy experts from around the world discuss how land-based activities affect the marine and coastal environments.

The international conference, to be held at the EDSA Shangri-La Manila in Mandaluyong City, is being organized by the government with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as lead agency, together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

A new R&D initiative, funded by the world’s shipowners and their P&I insurers, has been launched by ITOPF. The ITOPF R&D Award will provide some £50,000 each year to encourage innovative thinking and provide realistic solutions to some of the challenges faced when responding to accidental oil and chemical spills and undertaking environmental monitoring.

The Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Train the Trainers course will provide participants with better understanding on how the ICM framework has become a useful methodology to promote sustainable development of coastal areas emphasizing on the basic concepts and principles of ICM, the framework and processes involved in developing and implementing ICM at the local and national levels; and tools to assess the social, economic, and environmental status, use and management of coastal areas.