The Inter-Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (IACMST) is a UK Government Committee that maintains an over-view of marine-related activities across Government and internationally. Its role is to identify issues for more detailed consideration, particularly with respect to co-ordination and interaction between science and user interests. IACMST supports two Action Groups – the Marine Environmental Data (MED) AG works to improve the accessibility and availability of UK data relating to the marine environment, and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) AG co-ordinates monitoring, modelling and the assessment of change related to marine processes and climate, as well as the UK contribution to international GOOS programmes. Both Groups include representatives from Government Departments and Agencies, industry and other marine user groups.

The Government’s first Marine Stewardship Report - “Safeguarding our Seas” was published in 2002 and set out a framework for action to improve the effective and sustainable management of the UK’s marine environment. Two initiatives ensued: a Marine Monitoring Programme and an investigation of the State of the Seas. Both initiatives are being undertaken on a sectoral basis but with coordination of sectoral activities. IACMST has responsibility for contributing the Marine Processes and Climate input to the State of the Seas 2004 report; the other sectoral groups are Environmental Quality, Fish and Fisheries, and Habitats and Species.

The underlying philosophy behind the Marine Stewardship Report is the move towards a more integrated approach to managing the marine resource. This has motivated the adoption of an ecosystem-based approach to our understanding of the complex interactions in the marine environment and to then make use of this understanding within the policy and decision making frameworks. An important first step is to understand the current state of knowledge, the coverage of ongoing monitoring programmes and how work in the different sectors can be integrated to provide a more comprehensive picture. The first State of the Seas report should help to develop this picture and guide the development of a more comprehensive and integrated strategy for future monitoring in support of the ecosystem approach. We present here the full report on Marine Processes and Climate (MPC), which will be used to provide input to the State of the Seas Report. It is an updated and expanded version of the IACMST report on Climate Status and Trends published in 2001, available on the web (http://www.oceannet.org/UKclimate-status).