What is the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development?
On 5 December 2017, the United Nations proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, to be held from 2021 to 2030. This Decade will provide a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support countries’ actions to sustainably manage the Oceans and more particularly to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Why a Decade of Ocean Science?
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development was born out of the recognition that much more needs to be done to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and create improved conditions for the sustainable development of the ocean, seas and coasts.
The First World Ocean Assessment released in 2016 notes the cycle of decline in the ocean health, with changes and losses in the structure, function and benefits obtained from marine systems. Over the coming decades, a changing climate, growing global population and multiple environmental stressors will have significant impacts.
Science-informed mitigation and adaptation policies to global change are urgently needed, but neither science nor policy-makers can accomplish that alone.
We already have a lot of knowledge and data/Ocean Science already provides a lot of knowledge and data about the marine environment and its status but that knowledge could be better used, coordinated an integrated into the decision-making process to support management actions. A better predictability, based on developed knowledge that would allow scientists to build different scenarios and a digital map of the ocean should be promoted to help the decisions-makers in choosing the best management actions and measuring their possible consequences.
The existing knowledge could also be more equitably shared with coastal communities that are the most vulnerable to the current and future changes of the Ocean.
More inclusive approaches of designing and conducting marine scientific research could also support a sustainable Blue Economy, breaking the business model and sharing the responsibility of protecting oceans by complementing the policy and management actions protecting the ocean by encouraging better stewardship of our ocean resources.
The Decade of Ocean Science offers a framework to strengthen connections and weave partnerships between all communities working to study, conserve and sustainably use the ocean and its resources.
Through stronger international cooperation, the Decade will bolster scientific research and innovative technologies to ensure science responds to the needs of society:
- A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and removed
- A healthy and resilient ocean where marine ecosystems are mapped and protected
- A predictable ocean where society has the capacity to understand current and future ocean conditions
- A safe ocean where people are protected from ocean hazards
- A sustainably harvested ocean ensuring the provision of food supply
- A transparent ocean with open access to data, information and technologies
- An inspiring and engaging ocean where society understands and values the ocean
