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UN launches online atlas of the oceans |
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| ITALY: June 5, 2002 | ||
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ROME - The United Nations launched an online atlas of the oceans today aimed at pooling knowledge about the marine environment and halting damage being done by overfishing and pollution.
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"It is a big ocean watch designed to inform people such as policymakers and the general public about the state of the world's oceans," Serge Garcia, director of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation's fisheries division, told Reuters. "It is intended to help reverse the decline of the oceans." The Internet site at http://www.oceansatlas.org, launched on World Environment Day, will include contributions from experts and media as well as an encyclopaedia of the oceans. FAO chief Jacques Diouf said: "The oceans play a crucial role in sustaining life on earth and this important new tool will allow us to monitor and pay attention to problems in a way that hasn't been possible in the past." Overfishing, destruction of coastal habitat and pollution from industry, farms and households are endangering not only fish, but also marine biodiversity and even the global climate, according to the U.N. The atlas targets a variety of users - from schoolchildren, teachers and the general public to policymakers, scientists, the media and non-governmental organisations. Diouf said the new online system would help coordinate work under way in various parts of the United Nations and in national agencies and academic institutions.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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