The
program was announced at the Earth Observation Summit in
Tokyo, where 47 nations and more than two dozen international
scientific and humanitarian organizations were meeting to
discuss establishing the observation system by 2005. A follow-up
meeting in Brussels next year would establish standards
for data collection and transmission and decide on a governing
body for the system.
The
system would allow countries to exchange information on
oceans, forests, atmosphere and climate patterns and to
gain a more complete picture of climate change. It seeks
to save billions of dollars and lives lost from drought
or diseases such as malaria.
"There's
this ability to connect what the science world provides
to the practical world that the average person cares about,"
said Conrad Lautenbacher, head of the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (Kenji Hall, Associated Press,
April 25).
Japan,
which hosted the meeting, said it would begin developing
a system of buoys to measure the volume of carbon dioxide
absorbed through oceans, which could allow scientists to
more accurately forecast the rate of global warming. Once
the buoys are developed, they could be distributed throughout
the ocean through the new earth observation system, according
to the Asahi (April 26).
Published
in UN wire. Copyright, National Journal Group, Year.
