| LA REUNION MEETING REPORT RUDY VAN DER ELST |
The regional Council of Réunion Island recently facilitated a three-day meeting to forge closer collaboration in research between 13 countries of the Indian Ocean region. Held at the University of La Réunion, it brought together a number of donor organizations, 150 scientists with French connections and a further 100 from other countries, including nine from South Africa.
The objectives of the meeting and its associated workshops were to:
- Identify common research issues of the Indian Ocean region
- Contribute to the emergence of research and training projects
- Development an Indian Ocean research zone.
Six major themes of meeting
1. Major natural risks and climate
change
2. Biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems
3. Marine and coastal areas
4. Culture, societies and languages
5. Health and biomedicine
6. Innovation and technology transfer
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The meeting was structured along six primary themes of research. Following the anticipated political introductions by several ministers from countries in the region, a series of workshops was held, each preceded with a discussion document and several specialist presentations. As the topics under discussion were extremely wide ranging, it follows that the discussions were somewhat general in nature.
Marine and Coastal themes
1. Fundamental knowledge
2. Water quality
3. Coastal fisheries and aquaculture
4. Coastal zone management
5. Coupling climate to marine indicators
6. Fisheries impacts on ecosystems
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The Marine and Coastal workshop, which adhered to six themes, recognised that several programme initiatives already exist in the region, such as IOGOOS, the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Programme (SWIOFP) and the proposed Agulhas/Somali LME programme. It was noted that France not only controlled significant areas of the Indian Ocean, but that considerable scientific expertise existed in these Francophone regions. It was also repeatedly noted that South Africa was a leader in the region and that good collaboration already exists between respective countries, not only with France but also via SADC and NEPAD. More than 100 delegates attended the popular marine sessions and a number of possible areas of future collaboration were identified, such as:· Regional monitoring of water quality and bio-accumulation of toxins
· Understanding links between coastal and offshore regions
· Setting up of coastal observation stations
· Seabirds as indicators
· Top predators, sharks, marine mammals & turtles
Some personal conclusions-
Despite the very general and wide ranging nature of this meeting, distinct new opportunities for regional collaboration were forged. The major donors present also indicated their tentative support. The possibility of setting up“cyber” or virtual laboratories was promoted. The meeting was dominated by French scientists, but there was recognition that the“language-divide” could and should be crossed. It remains a little paradoxical that this initiative seeks to widen French collaboration in the Indian Ocean, yet access to their many smaller islands in the region is virtually impossible. The opening and closing ceremonies held in the parliamentary chambers of the Regional Council of La Réunion emphasised the strong political thrust of this meeting. Nevertheless, French cooperation with South Africa has been noteworthy in recent times, and they are to be complimented on spearheading this initiative.
Rudy van der Elst
Oceanographic Research Institute
[for an eventual electronic copy of the proceedings send your email address to louise@ori.org.za] 
