News

The ocean, our biggest ally against climate change, is in serious trouble. Last August, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, undertook an official visit to Venice to understand how a city at the forefront of the climate crisis is coping under increasing pressure.

The United Nations have just released the new Ocean Observing System Report Card - a high-level annual report providing a deep insight on the state, capacity and value of our Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).

The villages of Tambakrejo (East Java), Kemadang and Glagah (Yogyakarta) are successfully implementing the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme established by UNESCO, through its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO).

Back to Blue, an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, brings together two organisations that share a common understanding of the need for evidence-based approaches to improving ocean health.

On 4 July 2022, the Scientific Advisory Board of the environmental DNA initiative convened for the first time, sharing crucial recommendations as UNESCO prepares the global roll-out of the citizen science initiative.

On 28 June 2022, the UNESCO eDNA initiative was featured at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon (Portugal), during a side event which showcased ambitious science-based initiatives that inform policy.

From 27 to 30 March 2022, UNESCO undertook a pilot environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling campaign in the Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve World Heritage site (France), to prepare the global roll-out of its citizen science eDNA initiative.

The Dialogues with Industry is a forum for compact and meaningful dialogue with new and established companies, academia and government to highlight opportunities for the public and private sectors to work in partnership towards achieving a mature, vibrant ocean observing enterprise for a sustainable blue economy.

The latest UNESCO announcement on the endorsement of new UN Ocean Decade actions was great news to several projects under the GOOS UN Ocean Decade programmes - and many more initiatives are well underway in the process.