Fishing boats line a canal inside the northern coast of Java, Indonesia's most populous island. IPO is working with partners in Southeast Asia to develop guidelines for coastal managers to assess socioeconomic effects of their management programs.

The International Program Office (IPO) provides a single focal point for the international activities of NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS). It coordinates activities between NOS, national and international governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and others.

IPO’s areas of expertise include integrated coastal management, marine protected area (MPA) management, mitigation of climate change impacts, safe and environmentally sound maritime navigation, reduction of natural disaster impacts, and capacity building. IPO shares its expertise and technical capabilities with NOS programs and with the global coastal, marine, and resource management community. In addition, IPO fosters partnerships among government agencies, NGOs, academia, and the private sector to encourage stakeholder participation in planning and implementing international treaties, conventions, and agreements.

Sian Ka'an, a World Heritage site off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, contains 1.8 million acres of tropical forests, marshes, mangroves, lagoons, bays, and coral reefs. IPO's World Heritage Initiative is working to have more marine sites listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

IPO leads marine activities for the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas, which extends important MPA work of NOAA into the international arena. It is leading activities such as nominating marine sites to the World Heritage List, developing guidelines for effective MPA management, implementing a global socioeconomic monitoring program, and building regional networks of no-take MPAs. IPO works in regions such as the Caribbean where it is helping nations reduce land-based sources of marine pollution and mitigate impacts of climate change through the implementation of watershed and integrated coastal management plans.

IPO also shares insights and ideas in coastal and marine management and science directly with other countries. For example, it works cooperatively on coastal management and MPA issues with China, Korea, and Vietnam. IPO is also working with South Africa to train managers in MPA management, and with Japan on habitat restoration science and technology. IPO also coordinates NOS’s contributions to the International Coral Reef Initiative, and manages a grant program for funding international coral reef research and management programs.