The Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) recently took in as a member Ms. Elvira Z. Sombrito, Head of PNRI's Chemistry Research Unit, and has invited her to participate in the 36th Session of the Joint Experts Group which will be convened in Geneva, Switzerland from 27 April to 1 May 2009.
The GESAMP is an advisory body to the United Nations system on the scientific aspects of marine environmental protection, drawing experts from a wide range of relevant disciplines to help conduct and support marine environmental assessments, undertake in-depth studies and reviews of specific topics, and identify emerging issues regarding the state of the marine environment.
Ms. Sombrito, who has extensively collaborated with the International Atomic Energy Agency – another UN body – for marine-related radioactivity studies, and under whose stewardship the Institute gained distinction as a Collaborating Center of the IAEA, exemplifies the level of expertise gained by the country in this particular endeavor.
The GESAMP was formed in 1969, with the recognition of the fact that sound decisions in the area of marine protection and conservation depend on the availability of high-quality and reliable scientific information emanating from experts from around the world. Since then, it has reported on the “Health of the Oceans†and played a significant role in the assessment of global marine pollution and in the establishment of pertinent protocols on the subject.
With her appointment, Ms. Sombrito joins an elite group that is expected to provide guidance on questions relating to the marine environment and on particular problem areas that would require special attention from the international environmental bodies.
