Dr Jose Santos and Jing Li from the International CLIVAR Project Office (ICPO) attended the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research Programme (IMBeR) MoU Signing Ceremony and Strategic Partnership Seminar in Shanghai, China On 16 January, 2020. Over 30 representatives from IMBeR Scientific Steering Committee, International Project Offices (IPOs), East China Normal University (ECNU, the hosting agency of the IMBeR IPO in China), the supporting institutions and organisations to IMBeR IPO in China, and International Projects representatives based in China attended the event.

During the signing ceremony, Dr Jose Santos, on behalf of CLIVAR, congratulated the IMBeR Regional Project Office hosted by ECNU for being upgraded to an International Project Office. By emphasizing that China is now playing a leading role in the ocean and climate research in the world; there should be more opportunities and thus more enhanced cooperation between IMBeR and CLIVAR in the future.

The IMBeR’s contribution to achieving ocean sustainability for the benefit of society, its Strategic Plan, as well as the update from the supporting institutions and organisations for the IPO in China were presented after the Signing Ceremony. In the discussion session on the exploration of new partnership with supporting institutions and organisations, and collaboration with international academic organisations/projects, Jose and Jing shared the experience of ICPO on advertising its activities and engagement with partners by emphasizing the importance to provide focused information to targeted groups. Participants agreed to increase the communication among project offices of International Programme/Project based in China, and promote the use of online community (e.g. OpenChannels: Sustainable Ocean Management & Conservation globally and Wechat groups in China) to better advertise the events. Participants also shared views towards how to involve and recognise the support from institutions and organisations contributing to IMBeR IPO in China.

Background:

The Integrated Marine Biosphere Research Programme (IMBeR) and CLIVAR have long time fruitful cooperation in the area of Eastern Boundary Upwelling System (EBUS), Ocean Carbon researches, IORP-SIBER cooperation, etc. There are potential opportunities for cooperation between IMBeR and CLIVAR in better understanding and quantifying the state and variability of marine ecosystem, e.g. carbon flow and energy imbalance; as well as in ecosystem prediction.