Dalhousie University, in collaboration with the Nippon Foundation, is offering a two-year scholarship program called "Progovnet" to Caribbean nationals, in order to build regional capacity in ocean governance expertise.

The project involves Dalhousie's Marine Affairs Program, the Marine & Environmental Law Institute, the International Ocean Institute of Canada, and the University of the West Indies.

It provides scholarships to obtain the following qualifications: 1) a master's level degree at Dalhousie University's Marine Affairs Program or the university's Law School, 2) a Master of Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, or 3) participation in an International Ocean Institute of Canada training program in ocean governance, also held at Dalhousie University.

The idea behind the project is to create an expanding pool of Caribbean experts, in order to enable the region to keep pace with the rapidly-developing issues involving the world's oceans, specifically: a) the dual influences of a growing population situated increasingly along the world's coasts, and b) the effects of accelerating climate change and how this is making major changes in the world's oceans.

Added to this background is the need to have more Caribbean based experts who understand the impact of diminishing resources on our oceans, as well as the increased negative physical and chemical impact of pollution.

Because of these problems and changes, the oceans are becoming an intense focus of legal dispute, creating a growing need for experts who can implement broadly-accepted mechanisms, encouraging nations to cooperate and move forward with common principles of governance.

Nippon Foundation funding is enabling the scholarship to aid Caribbean experts as they work to better understand the role networks can play in the successful implementation of a principled ocean governance structure. It is hoped that this structure will be adapted by other ocean governance communities throughout the world.