Union Cabinet approves agreement with UNESCO for establishing ITCOocean Centre

The Union Cabinet on 16 December 2017 approved the agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for establishing International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean) in Hyderabad.

The International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography will be established as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) at the ESSO-INCOIS (ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services) campus.

The field of operational oceanography involves systematic ocean studies aimed at supporting day-to-day operations and  providing information services to  various sectors like fishing, disaster management, shipping, coastal management, environmental management, offshore industries and defense forces.

Highlights of the ITCOocean
• Establishing ITCOocean as a Category-2 Centre with UNESCO recognition will provide an opportunity for India to emerge as a leader in the Indian Ocean forging cooperation among South Asian and African countries.  

• ITCOocean will cater to the worldwide increasing need to build technical and management capacity in marine and coastal sustainability issues as well as a response to marine natural hazards.

• It will strive to improve skills of students and other trainees with an aim to increase employment opportunities within and outside India.

• It will contribute to achieve UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal-14 (SDG 14) and fulfill commitments to support Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, etc.

• ITCOocean is currently operational with up to date facilities at ESSO-INCOIS and has already trained over 681 scientists including 576 from India and 105 from 34 other countries in various aspects of operational oceanography.

ESSO-INCOIS is India's premier institution in operational oceanography providing several services that include the ISO 9001:2008 certified Potential Fishing Zone Advisory Service, Ocean State Forecast Service and Tsunami Warning Service.

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