Towards forecasting a changing ocean: An African partnership

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights the steps that have been taken into account in this book to forecast a better environment for oceanic life and the importance of African partnership. This book comes at a time of increasing global concern for the need to forecast accurately the ocean environment and predict environmental change and impacts on living marine resources and on the coastal communities that depend on them for their livelihoods. The Benguela Current is frequently subject to extremes of environmental variability which have a significant effect on the ecosystem and have important implications for fisheries management and food security in the region. These vary from large-scale low oxygen events and anomalous warm water intrusions from the tropics to locally occurring sulphur eruptions and harmful algal blooms. Understanding the nature and mechanisms that generate these conditions and being able to forecast these events are key objectives of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) Programme, a regional initiative by Angola, Namibia and South Africa to manage the Benguela in an integrated and holistic manner.