The data available to conclude to the definitive map of the world’s ocean floor has more than doubled, two years after the start of an international effort to produce a complete map by 2030. Namely, after the efforts of the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, coverage of the world’s ocean floor has grew from 6% to 15%.
The UK Government created 41 new marine conservation zones (MCZs) one week ahead of World Oceans Day. The new zones will be added to the existent ones, reaching the overall 91 zones, and covering roughly 32,000 square kilometres.
On the sidelines of the Empowering Women in the Maritime Community Conference in early April, the World Maritime University (WMU) and the Government of Canada jointly announced a major research project on the theme ‘Empowering Women for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’.
Following world’s first attempt to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from marine plastics that was interrupted due to unscheduled issues in late 2018, The Ocean Cleanup began to work on solutions that could start trialing again in June.
The World Ocean Council (WOC) – the Global Blue Economy Business Organization – announced it has become an official ally of the World Benchmarking Alliance, aiming to advance development of sustainability criteria for global ocean business community.
The UK Government has backed plans by Ascension Island to designate over 150,000 square miles of its waters as a fully protected ‘no-take’ Marine Protected Area (MPA) – closing the offshore area to any fishing activity and safeguarding important marine habitats.
In a joint declaration during the Nordic Council 2019 in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Nordic ministers for the environment, pushed for a new global agreement on the reduction and prevention of plastic waste and microplastics discharged into the sea.
Nordic Innovation and Nor-Shipping have collaborated to help facilitate a new funding instrument aimed at supporting innovation and collaboration between land-based and ocean industries. The initiative ‘Nordic Innovation Mobility Mission: Sea Meets Land funding instrument will be officially launched at Nor-Shipping 2019.
The five-year GloFouling Partnerships project, a collaboration between GEF, the UNDP and IMO, kicked off at a global workshop at IMO Headquarters in London, UK, in an event on 18-20 March. The project seeks to address bioinvasions by organisms which can build up on ships’ hulls and other marine structures.
