To highlight and in to order to address and collate the views of the countries in the Indian Ocean and ROPME region the Regional Planning Workshop for the Northern/Central Indian Ocean countries as well as ROPME sea area is held at NIOT, Chennai during 8th -10th January, 2020, to identify the region specific priorities, requirement and contribution to the objectives of the UN decade of Ocean Sciences for sustainable Development.

About 100 delegates from various countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Congo, France, Kuwait, Maldives, Russia Tunisia, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, UK, USA and India participated in the event. The experts also interacted with young scientists and students from various universities and organisations across India in an effort to involve the younger generation in taking the activities forward. The major flagship activities recommended from this region are :

• To develop a Regional Framework for Coastal Vulnerability towards the Safety, Security and Sustainable Development     of Member States in the Indian Ocean.

• Monitoring and Management of Marine litter and research on micro plastics.

• Tsunami Early Warning in the Indian Ocean.

• Inventory with knowledge gaps in existing programmes, studies and researches
  maximizing their wide and equitable usage towards the UN Decade success.

Apart from these the below mentioned activities were also proposed in the event.

• A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and removed.

• A healthy and resilient ocean where marine ecosystems are mapped and protected.

• A predictable ocean where we can understand current and future ocean conditions.

• A safe ocean where people are protected from ocean hazards.

• A sustainably harvested ocean ensuring the provision of food supply.

• A transparent ocean with open access to data, information and technologies.