"Vital for the public to take an interest in the ocean" 
 
Dr. Trevor Platt, Executive Director of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans, POGO
 
 
Did you follow the UN Climate Summit COP 18 in Doha?
The Group on Earth Observations, of which POGO is a participating organisation, hosted an event at the UN Climate Summit COP 18 in Doha, and POGO’s voice was raised through this intermediary.
 
With limited resources available, different international organisations make a concerted effort to share tasks and to speak with a common voice to maximise impact. POGO also supported the "Ocean Under Stress" stand coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory and associated brochure that was distributed in both English and Arabic.
 
 
People tend to be concerned about climate (change). Why should they care about the oceans?
It is vital for a public concerned about climate change to take an interest in the oceans. We rely on the ocean for transport, as a source of protein-rich food, minerals and petroleum-bearing sands, for renewable sources of energy as well as waste disposal and for recreation. We need to know the extent to which these services are under threat in a changing climate.
 
We live within the Earth system (land, ocean and atmosphere) that is interconnected, and includes many feedback loops. The ocean has a dominating role in this complex system, and is subject to perturbation as the Earth’s climate changes. To give but one example, the severity of tropical storms depends strongly on the temperature at the ocean’s surface.
 
 
What are the main three challenges for your Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) these days?
At a time when the world economy is under stress, a major challenge is the difficulty of securing funding to sustain an adequate ocean observing system with global coverage. A related challenge is to stimulate and maintain public interest in the role of the ocean in the Earth‘s systems.
 
A vital part of the POGO agenda is capacity building, especially in developing countries, and we are always preoccupied with finding the resources to do as much as we would like to do in this important arena.
 
 
Your next Annual Meeting will take place from 22 to 24 January 2013 in Cape Town. Why did you choose South Africa?
POGO is an international body: it is proper that its meetings should be hosted at member institutions around the world. Cape Town is an intellectual node for southern Africa, especially in the marine sciences.
 
The university is strong, and there are several other marine interests in the area. Finally, the incoming chairman of POGO, Prof. John Field, is located in Cape Town.
 
Note also that, since its inception, POGO has been a strong voice raised in support of enhanced ocean observations in the Southern Hemisphere: two-thirds of the world oceans are in the Southern Hemisphere, yet most of the capacity to observe the oceans resides in the Northern Hemisphere.
 
 
If you look back, when and where has been in your opinion the best annual meeting so far?
All POGO meetings are important for one reason or another: it is better to build on the most productive parts of each meeting, rather than to single any particular one out as being the best. We hope that the POGO meetings continue to improve in quality and effectiveness as the years go by and that we can continue to enhance the value of POGO to the marine community as well as to society at large.
 
 
Shubha Sathyendranath, Assistant Director of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), Dr. Sophie Seeyave and Dr. Victoria Cheung, both Scientific Coordinators within POGO, kindly contributed to this interview.
 
 
The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) is a forum created in 1999 by directors and leaders of major oceanographic institutions around the world to promote global oceanography, particularly the implementation of an international and integrated global ocean observing system. POGO includes institutions performing ocean observations as well as representatives of existing international and regional programs and organizations. POGO is a partnership of institutions involved in oceanographic observations, scientific research, operational services, education and training. w w w. ocean-partners. org