WOC and U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sign MOU

The World Ocean Council (WOC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have signed an MOU on “Long-term cooperation in support of marine meteorological and oceanographic observations and services”.

The partnership agreement provides a commitment and framework for the two bodies to collaborate and coordinate in advancing the role of ocean industries in collecting and sharing ocean, weather and climate data.

The WOC’s “SMART Ocean-SMART Industries” program is working to scale up a more systematic and strategic involvement of leadership companies in collecting such data by hosting or deploying instrumentation from vessels or fixed infrastructure.

The WMO is the United Nations system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.

Fernando Belda, Director of Observing and Information Systems Department at the WMO, said, “This agreement recognizes the leadership role that the World Ocean Council plays in engaging the diverse global ocean business community in sustainable development and science. In accordance with its Strategic Plan 2020-2023, the WMO looks to the WOC to coordinate and advance the critical need and opportunity for ocean industries to collect and share data in ocean areas in support of protection of life and property at sea, marine meteorological services to maritime industry, climate services and Earth System Prediction.”

Paul Holthus, Founding President and CEO of the WOC, added, “The WOC is honored to partner with the WMO on this shared mission of improving understanding of ocean, weather and climate. We are working to achieve this by increasing the number of leadership companies participating in the WOC SMART Ocean-SMART Industries program, which is a way for companies to directly implement Sustainable Development Goal 14.a ‘Increase scientific knowledge’.”

The MOU with WMO complements the Partnership Agreement signed between WOC and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in 2017. In addition, the WOC is an accredited Observer with the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and has signed an MOU with the “Seabed 2030” initiative. The WOC is increasingly recognized by, or an accredited observer to, international organizations, e.g. Group on Earth Observations, International Whaling Commission, International Seabed Authority.