The Ocean Decade marks a new era of ocean knowledge and understanding, and offers ocean stakeholders an unprecedented opportunity to drive global change. On 28 May 2021, ECO Magazine and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO revealed that the latest issue of the magazine: a special digital issue on the Ocean Decade.

From citizen science projects and innovative solutions to diverse perspectives on inclusivity and leadership, this edition has it all! Click the link below to know more about inspiring projects implemented to deliver the science we need for the ocean we want: enjoy your reading now!

https://unesco.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75c69bf185fb2be069850f6ee&id=372554af72&e=41a43d092f

Henry Ford once said, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible”. It has been long known that setting well-defined goals helps motivate people to achieve them. In 1990, after decades of studies on motivation, pioneering psychologists Dr Edwin Locke and Dr Gary Latham published their Goal-Setting Theory, focusing on what motivates employees in the workplace. So, how does one motivate entire countries to commit to large changes in order to end poverty, establish global peace and save the environment?

This is where the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) come in. Sustainable Development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” 1. The SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, are a set of 17 detailed, highly ambitious goals that were adopted by all UN member countries in 2015, serving as a united call to action against complex socioeconomical and environmental problems by 2030, such as poverty, climate change and gender discrimination. The SDGs are also integrated, meaning that they take into account that actions of one country or region will have positive or negative effects on other regions.

Read More here

Free Ocean Literacy Training Courses, hosted by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, with the contribution of the Government of Sweden and the Government of Flanders, empowered relevant stakeholders to understand and promote the objectives of the Ocean Decade.

As recognizing the role that education plays in increasing awareness about the state of the ocean is a priority, these trainings generated a broad dialogue to better identify how to transform ocean knowledge into actions. A total of 56 speakers from 29 countries participated in these trainings which gathered 87 participants (government officials, educators, the media, and the public) from 35 countries.

All courses provided an overview of the seven Ocean Literacy principles and highlighted the challenges the ocean is facing. Sustainable solutions were presented through successful case-studies such as the Ocean Rescue campaign of Sky News, a programme launched in 2017 to make people aware of plastic pollution; or the Educational Passages, a worldwide project where students are given the opportunity to deploy and track their very own mini boats.

Read more ...

The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (the ‘Ocean Panel’) was established in 2018 by 14 world leaders. The Ocean Panel seeks to change the way the world thinks, acts and feels about the ocean, and inspire policies and actions at the highest levels to catalyse the transition to a sustainable ocean economy. In this spirit, over the last several years the Ocean Panel commissioned a number of peer-reviewed Blue Papers and Special Reports to explore priority ocean issues that have significant policy relevance. This assessment informed the Ocean Panel’s action agenda ‘Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy’ which has a headline commitment to sustainably manage 100% of the ocean by focusing on five key pillars: Ocean Wealth, Ocean Health, Ocean Equity, Ocean Knowledge and Ocean Finance.

Find out more about these synergies: 

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Following the Decade Regional Planning workshops that were held throughout 2019 and 2020, informal stakeholders’ platforms have been established in several regions to advance the identification of regional initiatives and programmes for the Ocean Decade.

REGIONAL PLANNING:

Worldwide dedicated structures will play a key role in guiding regional activities to support the development of programmes, projects and activities that will be endorsed as “Decade Actions”.

The Western Tropical Atlantic Regional Planning Group (WTA IPG) was established in July 2020 to advance and coordinate strategic partnerships and actions for the Western Tropical Atlantic region, and benefits from the support of IOCARIBE as its official Secretariat. In 2020, WTA IPG developed a framework of major challenges and actions around each Decade outcomes and will organize a series of virtual workshops to support the elaboration of a regional action plan.

Read more ...

The Ocean Infohub (OIH) Project is pleased to announce the launch of their website to find useful information about OIH objectives and services. Published in February 2021, the OIH community is invited to discover the latest news and events of the project, as well as regions where the project is implemented and their official partners. Through this website, the OIH team would like to assist experts and ocean scientists in the dissemination of digital technology and sharing of ocean data.

Discover the new and existing content at https://oceaninfohub.org/