News

The Ocean Decade Corporate Data Group—co-chaired by Fugro and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (IOC/UNESCO)—was officially launched last week during an online kick-off meeting.

Through its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO), UNESCO has launched the prototype of a web-based tool for developing country professionals to discover capacity development opportunities around the world in ocean science and management.

2022 has been and continues to be a year of promise for the ocean’s wellbeing. Widely termed the “super year” for the ocean, due to the many important conferences where ocean health has been a focus of attention, there has been much progress this year towards the recovery and sustainable use of the ocean.

An experts meeting, co-organised by IOC-UNESCO and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), was held in Naples, Italy from 28-30 November 2022 to explore opportunities and identify key actions to implement the new ICG/NEAMTWS 2030 Strategy.

Over 40 participants from tsunami warning centres, disaster management offices, meteorological and geological services of 13 (PICT) attended the first Regional Training for PICT on the UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme from 30 January to 1 February 2023 in Nadi, Fiji. 

The publication of the new article "Unifying biological field observations to detect and compare ocean acidification impacts across marine species and ecosystems: What to monitor and why" by the GOA-ON Biological Working Group, supported by IOC/UNESCO, provides a global guiding framework for the scientific community to measure the impacts of ocean acidification on marine life.

To mark the International Day of Education (24 January 2023), Prada Group and UNESCO are launching “Kindergarten of the Lagoon”, an innovative outdoor education experience for pre-school children in Venice, taking place today on Torcello Island. The initiative is an important step for children to understand more about the ocean and the central role that it plays in sustainable development.

International experts are working together to improve the way we monitor the ocean through the development of Ocean Best Practices - common methods across ocean research, operations and applications that allow interoperability and reproducibility of ocean data and information.

COP15 in December 2022 marked a turning point for commitments on ocean biodiversity. Alongside IOC/UNESCO’s flagship ‘An Ocean of Life’ event, new goals and targets were introduced on science, information, data, funding and more.