Town Hall Meeting: GlobalHAB, the new international SCOR-IOC program for the study of HABs Conveners: Elisa Berdalet (Chair), on behalf of the GlobalHAB Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), berdalet@icm.csic.es; Henrik Enevoldsen (IOC/UNESCO), h.enevoldsen@unesco.org Join GlobalHAB!!! Looking forward to meet you at the Town Hall at the ICHA17

If you plan to attend the ICHA17 meeting in October in Florianópolis, Brazil, then you may wish to attend the Town Hall meeting on GlobalHAB, the new international SCOR-IOC program for the study of HABs launched in January 2016. GlobalHAB follows the legacy of the former GEOHAB program, incorporating new themes, as was recommended by the international scientific community at the GEOHAB Open Science Meeting in Paris, April 2013. The overall goal of the new programme is to foster activities to stimulate scientific advances leading to a better understanding of harmful algal blooms and to contribute to the mitigation of their impacts. Members of the GlobalHAB SSC will present the programme and how it is expected to develop over the next decade, as well as the specific activities proposed for the next three years. The international HAB research community is invited to actively engage in GlobalHAB. Thus, the Town Hall is a fantastic opportunity to discus the Scientific and Implementation Plan of the new programme, and to identify ways of dynamic participation. The Town Hall meeting will: • Highlight the main pressing issues that face the international harmful algal bloom (HAB) science community, including e.g. toxin-related challenges, impacts of aquaculture on HAB occurrences, the potential climate change impacts on HABs occurrence in freshwater and marine ecosystems, etc. • Identify specific activities to address these topics • Facilitate interactions among scientists interested in implementing GlobalHAB-related activities • Discuss science/stakeholder forums to assess the potential socio-economic impacts of HAB occurrences and to engage the medical community to improve human health protection. • Foster and develop links with existing international and regional initiatives that have HAB research among their priorities, fundamental for the implementation of GlobalHAB. This session will help make the new programme relevant to contemporary and future research, funding, and management priorities, continuing to ensure an international approach based on science. Join GlobalHAB!!! Looking forward to meet you at the Town Hall at the ICHA17