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This brochure highlights the central role the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC) plays in the sustainable management of our oceans. Outside the ocean science community many people are unaware of the critical services the IOC provides from coordinating the global tsunami warning system, to supporting greater understanding of climate change, and sharing data on all marine life from bacteria to whales.

The World Heritage Convention (1972) has a mandate to profile and protect the Planet's outstanding expressions of natural and cultural heritage. Yet only a few marine areas in the Pacific Ocean are represented on the World Heritage List, and they all are from the ocean's margin. In 2002, UNESCO convened a workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam with participation from 25 countries to identify tropical marine areas as potential World Heritage properties. The workshop included discussion on serial or transboundary management approaches to better respond to the interconnected nature and complex multiple jurisdictions that characterize many marine and ocean areas.

Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of the battle against climate change. With increased exposure and vulnerability of Pacific Islanders to weather extremes resulting from human-induced climate change, it is becoming increasingly important to understand local climate change knowledge and local perceptions on adaptation, and how these relate to resilience and to action on managing the impacts of climate change.

Sandwatch provides a framework for children, youth and adults with the help of teachers and local communities to work together to critically evaluate the problems and conflicts facing their beach environments.

Twenty years down the road from the Barbados Programme of Action (1994) and ten years after the Mauritius Strategy (2004), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in Apia, Samoa to take stock and define future priorities at the Third International Conference on SIDS, from 1 to 4 September. This Conference carries strategic stakes and will help to shape a stronger, new global sustainable development agenda beyond 2015. It must recognise the importance of SIDS in providing early-warning to the planet as a whole - as custodians of vast ocean spaces that are essential for food security, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and cultural diversity.