2020 is a big year for the Ocean.
From 2 to 6 June, actors from around the globe will meet in Lisbon, Portugal for the Second United Nations Ocean Conference. This conference will reconvene stakeholders three years after the 2017 Ocean Conference with the aim of scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
2020 is also the last year of the Preparatory Phase of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development - also known as "the Decade" or "the Ocean Decade" - that will take place from 2021 to 2030 and will be officially launched during the first half of 2021 in berlin, Germany.
The Ocean Decade aims to encourage the scientific community, policy makers, governments, business leaders and civil society to think beyond business as usual and aspire for real change, whether that be in the level of knowledge of the ocean that is currently produced, or in the way we manage cooperation and partnerships in support of sustainable development. Its ultimate goal is to revolutionize the way we conduct scientific research so that its findings meet the needs of our society - for a clean, healthy and resilient ocean.
Combining the different - and sometimes competing objectives of all interested parties (governments, business, and indeed the Ocean itself that needs to be safeguarded from unsustainable development) is not an easy task. The past two years have been full of preparatory work, coordinated by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission who is committed to making the Decade a truly inclusive initiative.
Consulting with parties from all ocean basins
As of January 8, five regional consultations have been organized to start identifying the priorities for ocean science in the upcoming years:
- The Pacific Community Workshop (23-25 July 2019, Noumea, New Caledonia) opened the round of consultations by sounding an alarm bell on the risk the island nations of the South Pacific face in relation to climate change. In the vast Pacific Ocean, saving the ocean means saving the people that call it home, along with their traditions and culture.
- The North-West Pacific Workshop (31 July-2 August 2019, Tokyo, Japan) brought together representatives from 18 different countries of the most densely populated area in the world, which clearly shows how the degradation of the marine environment from human activities ultimately turns against coastal communities in the form of ocean hazards and reduced ecosystem services.
- The Southeast Pacific Workshop (24-26 September 2019, Guayaquil, Ecuador) focused attention on the need for more cooperation among countries in the form of exchange of data and information and the transfer of marine technology: the Ocean is one, so we need to act as one if we want to save it from this dangerous decline.
- Similarly, the South Atlantic Workshop (25-27 November 2019, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) called for increasing capacity development in the region, while affirming the importance of mainstreaming traditional knowledge, social sciences and the perspective of youth into ocean science. Capacity development should not be limited to Developing Countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The North Atlantic Workshop (7-9 January 2020, Halifax, Canada) addressed the concept of "capacity exchange" among countries in the region, so that they can build partnerships to better support the needs of the other regions.
Overall, these five workshops allowed around 600 people to actively contribute to the definition of a set of priorities for ocean science that the Decade will support on the way to 2030.
The remaining regional consultations are scheduled as follows:
- North and Central Indian Ocean Workshop (8-10 January 2020, Chennai, India)
- Mediterranean Workshop (21-23 January 2020, Venice, Italy)
- Pan African and Surrounding Island States Workshop (27-29 January 2020, Nairobi, Kenya)
- Regional Arctic Ocean Decade Planning Workshop (29 April-1 May 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark).
Fostering dialogue among all interested parties
In addition to the consultations taking part in all ocean basins, new fora are being identified to foster dialogue among different actors: policy makers, civil society, the private sector and the scientific community.
Next month (27-28 February 2020), the Royal Danish Academy of Letters and Sciences will host a Foundations Dialogue for the Ocean Decade in Copenhagen, Denmark. Philanthropic Foundations are key in connecting science and society, by supporting research and initiatives that target specific beneficiaries. Including them into the Decade process will be critical to its success.
The Arctic Ocean Decade Policy-Business-Science Dialogue (29 January 2020, Tromsø, Norway) will aim at finding ways to increase scientific cooperation for the benefit of one of the most vulnerable ocean basins.
Elaborating a global Science Action Plan
The Implementation Plan for the Decade includes the development of a Science Action Plan (SAP). This plan will define priority scientific questions of high relevance to sustainable development and propose scientific themes and outcomes to structure the overall implementation of the Decade.
The SAP will also provide criteria to align science programmes and projects to the Decade's objectives. Overall, the Plan is intended to offer a guiding and adaptive framework to allow for innovative partnerships to produce cutting-edge science and innovation in support of societal needs, as embedded in the 2030 Agenda.
The draft Science Action Plan, along with other elements of the Decade Implementation Plan, will be presented to the Second Global Planning Meeting of the Decade, which will take place on 18-20 March 2020 at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France. The feedback received during that meeting will build on the outcomes of the First Global Planning Meeting, regional consultations and dialogue meetings to allow the finalization of the Implementation Plan for the Decade that will be unveiled at the UN Ocean Conference (Lisbon), before being submitted to the IOC Governing Bodies and United Nations General Assembly for approval, later in 2020.
Building the Generation Ocean
Exchange and dialogue between generations is critical to integrating the findings of ocean science into contemporary society.
The Ocean Decade is not only a process created to provide new knowledge to inform ocean action. More than that, this Decade will create a global alliance of experienced scientists, young professionals, governments, private companies, foundations and civil society sharing a deep ocean knowledge and acting together to use its resources in a sustainable way.
In other words, the Decade will create the "Generation Ocean."
Join the #OceanDecade at www.oceandecade.org.
*This article was originally published on ECO Magazine
