Mr Mika Odido is the Technical Secretary for the IOC’s Sub Commission for Africa and the Adjacent Island States. The sub commission was established in 2011 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO to promote regional and international cooperation for the understanding and management of the African oceans and coastal ecosystems, in order to ensure sustainable development and safety of the coastal populations, taking into account the priorities of Member States from Africa. Mr Odido’s has worked in the field of marine science research and coordination for more than 30 years, starting off as a researcher in physical oceanography at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute in Mombasa, Kenya where he focused on Ocean Dynamics and Modeling of coastal processes. During this period he also served as the regional coordinator for the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) for the Western Indian Ocean region. He joined UNESCO/IOC as a consultant in 2000 and served as Coordinator for the IOC Regional Committee for the Western Indian Ocean and the Ocean Data and Information Network for Africa. He coordinated the development of the African Sea Level Network and the establishment of the Forum for Heads of Academic and Research Institutions in marine sciences in Eastern Africa. In 2009 he was appointed at the Coordinator for the regional programmes of IOC’s International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange programme (IODE), based at the UNESCO/IOC’s project office for IODE in Oostende, Belgium. In this capacity he was responsible for the development and coordination of the IODE regional ocean data and information networks in Africa, the Caribbean and the Western Pacific regions. He served in this position till his appointment as the Technical Secretary for the IOC Sub Commission for Africa and the Adjacent Island States in March 2012. He is a founder member of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Sciences Association, member of the Steering Committee of the International Coastal and Marine Atlases Network, and a member of the Task Group for Data Sources for Sustainable Development of ICSU Committee for Data for Science and Technology.