United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Office in Nairobi, Kenya

2 nd ODINAFRICA Seminar, 24-26 April 2006

The second ODINAFRICA Seminar was held at the IODE Project Office in Ostende, Belgium from 24-26 April 2006 and attended by more than 60 people representing all the 25 countries participating in ODINAFRICA, Regional projects/programmes and organisations involved in marine related programmes, the government of Flanders (Belgium), ODINAFRICA trainers, and members of the ODINAFRICA Project Management and Steering Committees. The theme of the seminar was "Ocean Data and Information for Management and Development in Africa".

An exhibition and poster presentation on the activities of the ODINAFRICA National Data and Information Centres (NODCs), and the proposed ODINAFRICA Sea Level Data Facility was held during the seminar and opened by the Hon. Fientje Moerman, the Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Economy, Enterprise, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade.

ODINAFRICA national coordinator for Tunisia Dr Malika Bel Hassen explains a point to the minister during her tour of the exhibition.

The session was also attended by Dr David Pugh, the President of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and Dr Alfonse Dubi who is the Vice President representing the Africa region and also responsible for Capacity Building.

The objective of the seminar was to review progress in implementation of the activities planned for the current phase of the project, recommend ways of improving implementation, and explore the potential collaboration with other programmes/projects.

Presentations were made on the following themes, with focus on experiences of the ODINAFRICA National Oceanographic Data and Information Centres:

1. The Role of IODE Data Centres for Management of Marine and Coastal Areas

2. Marine Libraries in Africa: New Technologies for Sharing Knowledge and Expertise.

3. Reaching the Public: Generating Awareness about Marine and Coastal Issues

4. Building a National Data Service: Challenges and Experiences.

5. Development of Early Warning & Mitigation Systems for Tsunamis and other Marine Related Hazards

Representatives of the following programmes also made presentations on the activities they are implementing and potential for collaboration with ODINAFRICA: South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP), the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) and the PIRATA, the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME), the African Coelecanthe Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) & the Agulhas Somali Large Marine Ecosystem (ASCLME), the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME), and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA).