This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
Agenda 21 recommends international cooperation, through relevant organizations within the UN system, to support countries in developing and integrating regional systematic long-term observation programmes into Regional Seas Programmes in a coordinated fashion and, where appropriate, to implement subregional, regional and global observing systems based on the principle of exchange of data. One aim should be predicting the effects of climate-related emergencies on existing coastal physical and socio-economic infrastructure.