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Add to Preferred SourcesThe First Global Planning Meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 has set the stage for wide-ranging action and partnerships to strengthen scientific knowledge and innovation, increase resilience against marine and coastal hazards and reverse the decline in the health of the ocean.
“The ocean is not too big to fail, nor it is too big to fix. It is too big to ignore,” said former NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, summing up the mood of the planning meeting convened by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC) in Copenhagen from May 13-15.
Over 3 days, more than 200 ocean champions and stakeholders, including scientists, governments, non-governmental organizations, academia and private companies, discussed how to use the decade to collaborate and increase scientific understanding of the ocean, leading to improved global sustainable development.
“Let us make this a decade of partnership north and south, east and west,” said UN Special Envoy for Oceans, Peter Thomson. “The Decade takes on a critical role in critical times, as we are facing challenges our species has never faced before. As we know so little, we need this Decade to fill the gaps in scientific knowledge to enhance ocean health,” he said.
The Ocean Decade is focused on 6 themes:
- A safe ocean
- A sustainable and productive ocean
- A transparent and accessible ocean
- A clean ocean
- A healthy and resilient ocean
- A predicted ocean
The planning meeting, at the Assembly Hall of Denmark’s National Museum, focused on the co-design of mission-oriented research strategies to support the global agenda on sustainable development, and cross-cutting issues such as transforming knowledge systems; accelerating the transfer of technology; enabling training and education; and fostering science-policy dialogues.
Partnerships are needed to embrace the many different organizations and portfolios involved in ocean activities and are key to capacity development. It is necessary to bring together science and social science.
Original source: WMO
Published on 20 May 2019