Social Norms
Social norms action with informed and engaged societies
Social Norms
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Oceans Atlas - Global

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On June 5, 2002 (World Environment Day), the UN, FAO, and several international scientific agencies launched an internet-based atlas in an effort to integrate marine protection with the broader goals of sustainable development such as clean water, human health, and reliable food supplies. The atlas provides policy makers and the public with data on the state of the world's oceans, maps, development trends, and threats to human health from the deteriorating marine environment. Organisers hope that the programme will serve as an international consensus-building tool to foster negotiations of future marine-related agreements. In short, the purpose of the project is to facilitate the formation of parternships, particularly with concerned individuals and organisations in developing countries, through the provision of information.
Communication Strategies
The Atlas will spotlight acute marine issues with, in many cases, links to real-time maps and tracking data. The visitor to the Oceans Atlas site will find information organised according to the following general subject areas:
  • Uses - disposal of waste from land, energy, fisheries and aquaculture, human coastal settlements, marine biotechnology, non-consumptive uses, ocean dumping and ship wastes, offshore oil, gas and mining, recreation and tourism, and transportation and telecommunications.
  • Issues - climate variability and climate change, economics, emergencies, food security, governance, human health, pollution and degradation, safety and sustainable development.
  • Background - including biology and ecology, how oceans were formed and how they are changing, monitoring and observing systems, and maps, statistics, and online databases.
  • Geographical - categorises information according to geographic region.
In these sections, statistics are provided about more than 900 topics such as fishing, piracy, algal blooms, coral reefs, and invasive species. The atlas contains 14 global maps and links to hundreds of others, including 264 maps showing the distribution of fishery resources. This information is intended for a complete cross section of users - from schoolchildren, educators and the general public to policy makers, scientists, the media, NGOs, and resource managers. The website will be supplemented by a CD-ROM and other media to reach broader audiences and regions where internet access is limited.
Development Issues
Environment, Health.
Key Points
Over-fishing, destruction of coastal habitat, and pollution from industry, farms, and households endanger not only fish - the leading individual source of animal protein in the human diet - but also marine biodiversity and even the global climate. Low-lying regions of the world are frequently fertile, densely populated, and invested with expensive infrastructure. In that context, the human and material costs of a 1-metre rise in sea level would affect over 70 million people in coastal China, 10% of the population of Egypt, 60% of the people in Bangladesh, and 50% of Japanese industry. In low-lying countries like the Maldives or the Marshall Islands, the entire population could be at risk.

The need for a programme to address these and other environmental challenges was articulated at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
Partners

FAO, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Maritime Organization (IMO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Russian Head Department of Navigation and Oceanography, Cinegram Multimedia, National Geographic Society, The Census of Marine Life.

Sources

Letter sent from the FAO Media-Office to Media-G-Eng-L list server on June 3, 2002; and Oceans Atlas site.