About the NOAA-GPA Program Office
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Secretariat of the Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (UNEP/GPA) entered into an umbrella Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in March 2004 at the White Water to Blue Water Conference in Miami. The MOU establishes a framework for collaboration on activities of mutual interest related to coastal and marine pollution originating from land and coastal degradation, within the Wider Caribbean region and facilitates the establishment of a virtual GPA North American Node within the National Ocean Service’s Staff Office for International Programs in Silver Spring, Maryland, creating the NOAA-GPA Program Office.
The Program Office provides effective support to GPA-related activities in the Wider Caribbean region at large, including those activities under the White Water to Blue Water Initiative (WW2BW). The function of the Program Office is to provide direct technical assistance and advice to governments in the Wider Caribbean in the development of their National Programs of Action to prevent, reduce, control and/or eliminate marine degradation from land-based activities.
The Program Office has produced a summary document, describing lessons learned since the signing of the MOU. Access it here:
The Program Office is currently active in the following states, implementing Naitonal Plans of Action:
Mexico
