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Technical Cooperation Programme to Build Countries’ Capacities for Science-Based Sustainable Marine Management
Summary
This article describes the International Atomic Energy Agency's Technical Cooperation Programme, which for over 60 years has transferred nuclear and related technologies to member states in areas including environmental monitoring—with relevance to tracking marine microplastic contamination using isotopic and tracer techniques.
For more than 60 years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has promoted the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology for addressing major socioeconomic and sustainable development priorities at national, regional, and interregional levels. The Agency’s Technical Cooperation (TC) Programme is the primary mechanism for transferring nuclear and related technologies to its Member States, helping them to address their priorities in a variety of areas such as health and nutrition, food and agriculture, water and the environment, industrial applications, and, of course, the safe and secure use of nuclear energy. Here, we briefly describe the types of TC Programme projects that promote the sustainable development of coastal countries and the mechanisms IAEA uses to identify and support the projects. We highlight two of these projects.
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