South East Asian Global Ocean Observing System (SEAGOOS)
Project Coordinator: Dr. Somkiat Khokiattiwong, Head of Oceanography and Marine Environment Unit, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Thailand
The establishment of SEAGOOS was formally initiated in the IOC/WESTPAC Workshop on the Establishment of SEAGOOS in the Wider Southeast Asian Region (Seoul, 27-31 August 2001) and officially approved in the Fifth Session of IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC V, Fremantle, Australia, 9-13 September 2002) through the Recommendation SC-WESTPAC-V.3.
Subsequent to the Fifth Session, other several consultation meetings were held in order to consolidate efforts in the establishment of the programme. With their highlights, these are given below:
I. High level Consultative Meeting on SEAGOOS (21-22 October 2003, Malaysia) –Draft MoU formulated and the interim coordinating committee established;
II. During the sixth IOC/WESTPAC International Scientific Symposium (19-23 April 2004, Hangzhou, China) –The programme was decided to function as a programme of IOC/WESTPAC and consequently, the “MoU” was transformed into a set of operational guidelines;
III. 3rd Consultative Meeting on SEAGOOS (2-4 May 2005, Bangkok, Thailand) –the operational guidelines were finalized for endorsement at the 6th session of IOC Sub-Commission for WESTPAC;
IV. During the Sixth Session of IOC Sub-Commission for WESTPAC (25 May 2005, Nha trang, Vietnam) –the operational guideline was endorsed;
V. 4th Consultative Meeting on SEAGOOS (31 October–3 November 2005, Townsville, Australia) –Three priority projects for SEAGOOS were selected.