With more than 77,000 individuals from 4,000 institutions, including 4,500 Early Career Ocean Professionals, engaged in ocean action over the period July 2022-June 2023, the Ocean Decade’s latest annual progress report solidifies the status of the Decade as the largest global ocean science initiative ever undertaken.
Released earlier this week, the latest progress report of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (‘Ocean Decade’), coordinated by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), details the Decade’s remarkable reach during its second year of implementation.
As of June 2023, a total of 47 Programmes, 277 Projects, and 85 Contributions across 58 countries had been endorsed by the Ocean Decade. These Decade Actions have created over 25,000 knowledge products, and capacity development activities have supported over 200,000 beneficiaries.
“The Report is a call to action to leaders, policy makers and societal actors across the globe to work with the robust and rich portfolio of Decade Actions as key partners in the generation of knowledge and science to underpin decision making that will lead to sustainable ocean management,” said Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the IOC/UNESCO.
The Decade’s coordination matrix also expanded significantly, with the activities of the 37 National Decade Committees reaching over one million people. Regional and thematic implementation support increased to include 11 Decade Collaborative Centres and Coordination Offices, and 12 Decade Implementing Partners. Outreach and engagement continued to grow since the previous progress report – the Decade’s social media channels have a joint following of over 48,600 and the Ocean Decade Network has more than 7,000 users.
In the period covered by this progress report, significant efforts were made to engage philanthropic foundations and grow the Ocean Decade Alliance. Nevertheless, Decade Actions still face significant challenges related to mobilizing in-kind and financial resources and the Decade remains committed to supporting matchmaking between Decade Actions and funders with shared priorities.
Looking forward, planning is well underway for the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain in April 2024 – a milestone event for the ocean community to celebrate achievements and set future priorities. The conference will also provide an opportunity to present and discuss the results of the Vision 2030 process, whereby expert working groups set collective and quantifiable targets for each of the Decade Challenges.
The Decade will continue to prioritise engaging Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs), including supporting regional taskforces and coordination structures to identify priorities and resource opportunities.
In this context, Call for Decade Actions No. 06/2023, launched on 15 October 2023, aims to fill gaps in knowledge and capacity development for Africa and Caribbean SIDS through a tailored and inclusive participatory process to co-design Decade Actions that meet local and regional needs.
For more detail, we encourage you to explore the full progress report.
For more information, please contact:
Ocean Decade Communications Team (oceandecade.comms@unesco.org)
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About the Ocean Decade:
Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (‘the Ocean Decade’) seeks to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and catalyse new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive marine ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. The Ocean Decade provides a convening framework for scientists and stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop the scientific knowledge and the partnerships needed to accelerate and harness advances in ocean science to achieve a better understanding of the ocean system, and deliver science-based solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.
About IOC/UNESCO:
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO) promotes international cooperation in marine sciences to improve management of the ocean, coasts and marine resources. The IOC enables its 150 Member States to work together by coordinating programmes in capacity development, ocean observations and services, ocean science and tsunami warning. The work of the IOC contributes to the mission of UNESCO to promote the advancement of science and its applications to develop knowledge and capacity, key to economic and social progress, the basis of peace and sustainable development.