INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 



Chapter 6 



The success of the global IDOE program 

 depends in large part on the extent to which 

 many nations contribute their expertise and 

 capabilities. The U.S. National Science Foun- 

 dation has taken a leading role in working to 

 develop scientifically sound cooperative pro- 

 grams offering opportunities for many nations 

 to share both program responsibilities and re- 

 sults. The strength of existing projects stems 

 from the participation of scientists from many 

 countries. The Foundation has sought to fos- 

 ter this development in three ways: scientist- 

 to-scientist cooperation, intergovernmental 

 coordination and international scientific con- 

 ferences. 



SCIENTIST-TO-SCIENTIST 

 COOPERATION 



Convinced that scientific soundness is a 

 prerequisite to viable international research 

 projects, the U.S. IDOE Office contacted indi- 

 vidual scientists from a number of countries 

 during late 1969 and 1970, and invited them 

 to assist in the planning of specific projects — 

 a practice followed to this day. These spe- 

 cialists not only helped considerably in the 

 planning, but subsequently encouraged par- 

 ticipation by many foreign oceanographic in- 

 stitutions. By 1971 institutions in six foreign 

 countries had committed resources, and scien- 

 tists from nine other countries were taking 

 part in various IDOE programs. A year later 

 institutions in fifteen foreign countries had 

 committed resources, and scientists from an 

 additional fifteen countries were participating 

 individually. By 1973, 41 countries were active 

 participants in one or more U.S. IDOE projects 

 (Table 3). 



Specific examples of cooperative efforts de- 

 veloped through scientist-to-scientist coopera- 

 tion are the Geochemical Oceans Section 

 Study (GEOSECS), continental margin studies 



and research on plate tectonics and metallo- 

 genesis. The Federal Republic of Germany, 

 France, the United Kingdom, India, Italy 

 and Japan have participated extensively in 

 GEOSECS with ships, personnel and labora- 

 tory facilities. 



During the first year of the Eastern South 

 Atlantic Continental Margin survey, partici- 

 pants came from Argentina, Brazil, the Re- 

 public of the Congo, the United Kingdom, the 

 Federal Republic of Germany, France, Gabon, 

 Ghana, Jamaica, Liberia, Nigeria, Portugal, 

 Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain and the 

 United States. The Western South Atlantic 

 continental margin survey is also underway 

 with very active international scientific 

 participation. 



Scientists from three U.S. laboratories, five 

 Latin American countries and the Pan Ameri- 

 can Institute of Geography and History are 

 cooperating in the Nazca lithospheric plate 

 project off the west coast of South America. 

 Latin American scientists participated in all 

 the initial cruises, and four worked in the 

 United States on the data reduction and analy- 

 sis. The planning for the 1973 research phase 

 was a cooperative effort, as were the cruises 

 themselves. 



INTERGOVERNMENTAL 

 COORDINATION 



In addition to encouraging participation by 

 individual foreign institutions and research- 

 ers, the United States has pressed for exten- 

 sive internationalization of the IDOE through 

 the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Com- 

 mission (IOC) of the United Nations Educa- 

 tional, Scientific and Cultural Organization 

 (UNESCO). The IOC, established in 1960, 

 now has seventy-four members (Table 4). 



49 



