The Atlas will spotlight acute marine issues with, in many cases, links to real-time maps and tracking data. The visitor to the Oceans Atlas site will find information organised according to the following general subject areas:

In these sections, statistics are provided about more than 900 topics such as fishing, piracy, algal blooms, coral reefs, and invasive species. The atlas contains 14 global maps and links to hundreds of others, including 264 maps showing the distribution of fishery resources. This information is intended for a complete cross section of users - from schoolchildren, educators and the general public to policy makers, scientists, the media, NGOs, and resource managers. The website will be supplemented by a CD-ROM and other media to reach broader audiences and regions where internet access is limited.

Environment, Health.

Over-fishing, destruction of coastal habitat, and pollution from industry, farms, and households endanger not only fish - the leading individual source of animal protein in the human diet - but also marine biodiversity and even the global climate. Low-lying regions of the world are frequently fertile, densely populated, and invested with expensive infrastructure. In that context, the human and material costs of a 1-metre rise in sea level would affect over 70 million people in coastal China, 10% of the population of Egypt, 60% of the people in Bangladesh, and 50% of Japanese industry. In low-lying countries like the Maldives or the Marshall Islands, the entire population could be at risk.

The need for a programme to address these and other environmental challenges was articulated at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.