US embassy cable - 05PARIS1496

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001496 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TPHY, TSPL, SENV, KSI, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: AT MEETING WITH MEMBER STATES, DG OUTLINES 
ROLE OF UNESCO IN EXPANDING TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM 
 
1.  Summary:  In a February 10 meeting with 
representatives of member states, DG Matsuura reported 
that UNESCO had succeeded in assuming a lead role in 
coordinating efforts to set up global and regional 
tsunami warning systems.  He outlined a process -- 
 
SIPDIS 
including a March 3-8 UNESCO/IOC coordination meeting - 
that will result in the creation of a politically 
agreed framework for a global system by June 2007.  He 
also set a target date of June 2006 for the realization 
of a preliminary Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system, 
with a full-fledged system in place by late 2007.  IOC 
Executive Secretary Patricio Bernal also addressed the 
group, briefing on the IOC's Pacific tsunami warning 
system.  End Summary. 
 
2.  DG Matsuura briefed representatives of member 
states on his efforts to ensure UNESCO's role as lead 
agency for the international coordination of global and 
regional tsunami warning systems, based on the 
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's (IOC) role 
in running the tsunami warning center in the Pacific. 
Matsuura reported that he had used the Mauritius 
meeting on Small Island Developing States (January 10- 
14) to announce a strategy and calendar of key events 
for the creation of an Indian Ocean tsunami system; in 
Mauritius, he also outlined a strategy to build a 
global tsunami warning system that would cover the 
needs of other at-risk regions, including the 
Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the South West 
Pacific.  Matsuura saw UNESCO's mandate in this area as 
also having been enhanced at a special plenary session 
on the Indian Ocean Disaster at the January 19-22 Kobe 
Conference on disaster reduction, as well as by the 
January 29 Ministerial meeting in Phuket. 
 
March 3-8 IOC Coordination Meeting: Regional to Global 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
3.  In this context, Matsuura described the March 3-8 
UNESCO/IOC "International Coordinating Meeting for the 
Development of a Tsunami Warning System for the Indian 
Ocean" as a means of "harmonizing" initiatives launched 
by various organizations and countries.  Ministers of 
Foreign Affairs of Indian Ocean countries, as well as 
IOC focal points in other UNESCO member states, have 
been requested to encourage the participation of their 
technical experts. 
 
4.  The March coordination meeting will have two 
objectives:  first, to draft a work plan and timetable 
for creating a tsunami warning and mitigation system 
for the Indian Ocean.  Second, to produce a draft plan 
for a global tsunami warning system. 
 
5.  On the Indian Ocean system, Matsuura predicted that 
work could proceed quickly, given the consensus among 
concerned states that such a system is needed, and 
given the fact that the Indian Ocean Global Ocean 
Observation system (IGOOS - established in 2002 under 
UNESCO auspices) can serve as an important foundation 
for a tsunami early warning system.  Matsuura expressed 
the hope that the March meeting would be followed by an 
April meeting at the policy level to discuss 
organizational issues related to an Indian Ocean 
system, to be presented for approval to the IOC General 
Assembly meeting in June. In response to questions, 
Matsuura later clarified that the March conference 
would likely be followed by a flurry of consultations, 
to culminate at the April meeting in agreement on a 
"mechanism for the creation of a new system" and the 
choice of a location for the regional center.  He 
acknowledged that this might not be an easy process, 
given the existence of so many alternative proposals. 
 
6. On the global tsunami warning system, Matsuura 
explained that the March 3-8 conference would not only 
focus on linkages with existing warning systems and 
with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems 
(GEOSS).  There would also be a "ground-up approach": 
the conference would examine regional components of a 
global tsunami warning system.  The 2002 UNESCO/IOC 
proposal for an "Intra-Americas" system would be a 
focus of discussion, as well as proposals for other at- 
risk regions, including the Mediterranean, the Atlantic 
and the South West Pacific.  Once agreement is achieved 
on a draft design for a global system, the next step 
will be regional coordination meetings: the DG 
expressed the hope that a planning meeting for the 
Caribbean would take place during the second half of 
this year.  The DG noted that UNESCO/IOC would also 
participate in a February 28 meeting organized by the 
EC's Research Directorate to assess existing networks 
in the Mediterranean. 
 
7.  On timing, Matsuura said that all regional tsunami 
systems should come under the "umbrella" of the global 
system; the goal is to have a global system in place by 
June 2007.  He also set a target date of June 2006 for 
realization of a preliminary Indian Ocean Tsunami 
warning system, with a full-fledged system in place by 
late 2007. 
 
8.  An important IOC official explained that the June 
2007 deadline is for a politically agreed framework for 
a global tsunami warning system, with elements of 
certain regional systems - the Caribbean and the SW 
Pacific -- actually in place.  The preliminary Indian 
Ocean system would be an "interim" solution derived 
from currently available resources that would integrate 
instrumentation and networks into existing information 
systems in Hawaii and Japan.  Adhering to a tight 
timeline is crucial in order to take advantage of 
current momentum, the IOC official noted. 
 
UNESCO Role in Rebuilding: Education, Water Resources 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
8.  After outlining other UNESCO initiatives in the field of 
disaster reduction showcased at the Kobe conference, 
Matsuura discussed UNESCO's role in post-tsunami response 
efforts.  UNESCO's priorities include:  proposing temporary 
alternative educational services; restoring biological and 
cultural diversity, including archives and libraries; and 
promoting integrated water management.  Administratively, 
UNESCO is working through its field offices in Bangkok, 
Jakarta, and New Delhi; the Taskforce on Emergency Response, 
created by the DG immediately after the tsunami, coordinates 
efforts.   As efforts have shifted from humanitarian 
emergency activities towards longer-term recovery, the DG 
has strengthened temporarily the Jakarta field office and 
created a UNESCO antenna office in Colombo.  Evoking 
financing, the DG expressed thanks for donations to date 
from member states, and reported the creation of a Tsunami 
Special Account. 
 
Budget for Tsunami System:  TBD 
-------------------------------- 
 
9.  Funding issues relating to the establishment of an 
Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system were evoked when the 
British Ambassador asked whether the focus on creating a 
tsunami network might not be in conflict with the recent 
 
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decision to merge the former earth sciences division into 
two other divisions in the Natural Sciences sector. Matsuura 
acknowledged that the current budget exercise did not 
include post-tsunami response activities; however, the draft 
budget had been adjusted somewhat:  the secretariat will 
propose expenditures of 25 million dollars (as a supplement 
to the base budget of 610 million dollars to be submitted to 
the Executive Board) that would include elements to 
strengthen UNESCO's capacity to tackle disaster prevention. 
 
10.  Responding to a question from the Sri Lankan Ambassador 
on the financing of the tsunami warning system, Matsuura 
said that the effort - including training of local experts - 
- would require "international assistance."  But what counts 
most at this point, the DG asserted "is the political will 
to establish and run" such a system.  Matsuura noted that 
UNESCO would fund travel to the March conference for two 
experts from each concerned developing country. 
 
11.  In a side conversation, a high IOC official responded 
to science officer's query on estimated total cost of a 
global tsunami warning system by acknowledging that the IOC 
had at that point had not yet conducted a cost exercise; he 
was not sure whether it would be better to do so before or 
after the March 3-8 meeting.  He noted that a figure of 30 
million dollars over 2-5 years had been evoked, but said 
that it had "no technical basis." 
 
 
GOOS Regional Alliances an Important Tsunami Network "Tool" 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
12.  Queried on the role the GOOS (Global Ocean Observation 
System) regional alliances might play in a new global 
tsunami warning system, the IOC official responded that the 
 
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regional alliances are an essential "tool" in facilitating 
contacts among institutions and promoting the implementation 
of GOOS; he pointed to the Caribbean GOOS as a particularly 
strong example that could be used as a model.  But although 
the Regional Alliances will certainly play a role in 
implementing regional tsunami warning networks, they are not 
meant to be governance structures.  For example, improving 
the means by which tsunami alerts are relayed to citizens - 
including mounting national structures that are operational 
24/7 - represents a crucial challenge.  It is a 
responsibility that can only be shouldered by governments. 
 
CARSON