UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission : In News
Three underwater geographical structures located in the Indian Ocean for which the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) have awarded names originally proposed by India.
- UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission promotes international cooperation in marine sciences to improve management of the ocean, coasts and marine resources.
- The IOC enables its 150 Member States, and India has been a member of this commission since 1946.
- It works together by coordinating programmes in capacity development, ocean observations and services, ocean science, tsunami warning and ocean literacy.
- The IOC is in charge of coordinating the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030, the “Ocean Decade”.
- There are now seven structures in the Indian Ocean named mainly after Indian scientists or bear names proposed by India in this region of the Indian Ocean.
- All three recently named structures were discovered by oceanographers from the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa.
- These are located along the Southwest Indian Ridge area of the Indian Ocean and were discovered during an international survey exploration programme.
- Since 2004, India has been undertaking the Indian Southern Ocean Research Programme with NCPOR being the nodal agency.
