2010 Training programme on ocean governance

Purpose and approach

With the support of Dalhousie University, the International Ocean Institute (IOI) has offered an intensive, interdisciplinary training programme in Canada annually since 1981. It is one of the courses available through the IOI network’s OceanLearn suite of programmes. In keeping with the vision of the late Elisabeth Mann Borgese, founder of the IOI, the purpose of the IOI-Canada course is to:
- deepen understanding of the ever-increasing importance of the oceans and their resources in world politics and sustainable economic development;
- assist developing countries in the formation of a core of decision-makers fully aware of the complex issues of ocean management;
- maximise benefits to be derived from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea through the proper integration of ocean management into national and international development strategies.

The course emphasises the importance of viewing the ocean as a system with varied users and multiple, often competing and conflicting, uses. It also aims to increase awareness of the fact that ocean management requires broad interdisciplinary skills, new institutional and legal infrastructures, and new forms of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisation and cooperation at the local, national and international levels.

The training programme consists of over two hundred hours in the classroom. While it is primarily lecture-based, the course also includes interactive discussions, exercises, field trips, and an international round table.

Syllabus

The 2010 training programme consists of ten major modules, as outlined below:

Module 1: Orientation & Introduction to the Training Programme
Module 2: Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management
Module 3: Ocean Sciences
Module 4: Law of the Sea and Principled Governance
Module 5: Fisheries and Aquaculture
Module 6: Communication and Negotiation
Module 7: Energy
Module 8: Marine Security
Module 9: Marine Transportation
Module 10: International Round Table & Conclusion of Training Programme.