News

Around 500 ocean observations and data management experts gathered virtually on 18-30 September 2020 to review the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) and formulate recommendations for its enhancement.

On 12 October 2020, the IOC held a second international workshop on data sharing in the context of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030, the “Ocean Decade” for short). The aim of this session was to provide global and regional organisations, programmes and projects, NGOs and the private sector with the opportunity to join the global discussion on how to leverage the potential of the Ocean Decade to improve ocean data sharing worldwide.

Through the IOWave20 simulation exercise, Indian Ocean countries get to test their tsunami warning systems and response protocols even while they contend with the impacts of the global COVID-19 crisis.

GOOS Observations Coordination Group launches a new Ocean Observing System Report Card and introduces the rebranding of OceanOPS (previously JCOMMOPS) along with its first-ever 5-year Strategic Plan (2021-2025), phased with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (“Ocean Decade”).

Scientific Director and CEO of Canada’s Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), Dr. Anya Waite, has been selected as co-chair of the prestigious Global Ocean Observation System steering committee. She is the first woman at the head of this body since its creation in 2011.

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has recently released a non-paper on its potential role in support of the negotiation process of a new international legally binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).

UNESCO launched an Online Lecture Series to highlight how its Tsunami Ready Program is motivating and encouraging communities in the Indian Ocean to reduce to a minimum the risks from future tsunamis on lives and property.

A new study by the Working Group on Ballast and Other Ship Vectors (WGBOSV) of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the ICES Working Group on Introduction and Transfers of Marine Organisms (WGITMO) indicates that introductions of aquatic non-indigenous species (ANS) have occurred at an alarming rate for the past 50 years.

It is with great sadness that the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO acknowledges the passing away of Professor Doctor Biliana Cicin-Sain on 1 September 2020.