The Program has streamlined federal agency representation on the Policy Review Board to improve the opportunities for strategic leadership by the Gulf state agencies and the nongovemment interests. At the same time, the Management Committee has been expanded to embrace a broader constituency so that key organizations and agencies are engaged more effectively in the operational aspects of the Program. Focus teams have been formed for each area and charged with establishing measurable goals and objectives, defining baseline conditions, reaching consensus on the pathway of actions to achieve the objectives, working with the Management Committee and Policy Review Board to implement those actions, and identifying the key indicators for measuring progress. Finally, a scientific review committee has been established to oversee technical peer reviews of specific Program products and plans. Large ecosystems present some of the most difficult problems of environmental science and policy.
Large ecosystems provide opportunities for learning from and about the real world.
Their governance presents challenges of science, management, and politics, often entangled in ways that resist simple approaches. Even though the ecological problems confronting the Gulf are complex and enormous on a geographic scale, these problems sometimes seem to pale in comparison to the institutional barriers fostered by the legal, regulatory, and. Those barriers are founded on the very real challenges associated with human relationships, including our ability to communicate effectively and to develop, not only shared goals, but common and complementary approaches to achieving those goals. Governance of the Gulf of Mexico truly encompasses the challenges and opportunities in the areas of science, management, and politics noted by Dr. Lee. But, however great the challenges, the opportunities for learning and taking positive actions are even greater.