Ocean science decade

23 November 2017
Ocean science decade

The UN General Assembly recently used the NASDAQ billboard in Times Square New York to promote a proposed UN Decade of Ocean Science 2021-2030.

Úrdráttur á íslensku fylgir á eftir ensku útgáfunni.

Newly appointed UN's Special Envoy for the Ocean, Mr Peter Thomson, believes this could be the start of an entire decade of concerted action needed to support the protection of our shared ocean environment.

UN Decade of Ocean Science is designed to boost investment and intergovernmental coordination of ocean science. It is a response to the high-level UN Ocean Conference convened at UN Headquarters in New York last June.

UN Ocean Conference

The UN Ocean Conference was convened at UN Headquarters in New York last June to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (SDG 14).

The Conference produced three main outputs: 1) Call for Action-declaration; the conference report; and 3)  a list of voluntary commitments for the implementation of SDG 14.

Actually, the decision to have a UN Decade of Ocean Science 2021-2030 was announced at the Conference as a voluntary commitment by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

The IOC commitment

At the UN Ocean Conference IOC presented the first ever Global Ocean Science Report (GOSR).

The report provides a starting point to understand where marine scientific capacities exist and where they could be strengthened for the benefits of Least Developing Countries (LDC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

To be published every five years, the report also serves as an tool to assess progress in the accomplishment of SDG 14.

Following the official launch of the GOSR IOC Executive Secretary proposed on behalf of the IOC Member States for 2021-2030 to become the International UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The FTP commitment

UNU-FTP took an active part in the UN Oceans Conference. The staff made presentations, organized four side events and made a statement during one of the plenary meetings. UNU-FTP also made two voluntary commitments, focusing on the development of the Blue Economy in SIDS countries and on poverty alleviation and food safety in coastal LDCs in Africa.

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Áratugur hafvísinda

Alsherjarþing Sameinuðu þjóðanna notaði nýlega NASDAQ auglýsingaskiltið fræga við Times-Square í New York til að kynna áform sín um Áratug hafvísinda 2021-2030.

Nýskipaður sendiherra SÞ í málefnum hafsins, Peter Thomson, bindur vonir við að þetta gæti verið upphafið að tíu ára samhæfðum aðgerðum til verndar hafinu.

Markmiðið með Áratug hafvísinda er m.a. að auka fjárframlög og samvinnu á sviði hafvísinda og -rannsókna.

Áform þessi er hluti af þeim afrakstri sem Hafráðstefna Sameinuðu þjóðanna, er haldin var í New York fyrr á árinu, hefur skilað okkur.

Þau voru kynnt á ráðstefnunni sem skuldbinding af hálfu Hafrannsóknarnefndar Menningarmálastofnunar SÞ (IOC of UNESCO) við Sjálfbærnimarkmið SÞ um verndun og sjálfbæra nýtingu hafsins.

Á Hafráðstefnunni kynnti Sjávarútvegsskóli Háskóla SÞ tvær skuldbindingar til stuðnings við sama markmið: Annað lýtur að stuðningi við smá eyþróunarlönd (SIDS-countries); hitt að stuðningi við fátæk strandríki Afríku.