The United Nations proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and gather ocean stakeholders worldwide behind a common framework that will ensure ocean science can fully support countries in creating improved conditions for sustainable development of the Ocean.
Beginning in 2021, the project’s motto is “The science we need for the ocean we want”.
By 2030, the UN expects the world to have more of both. The blueprint for the project starts with how it wants to finish. By 2030, the organizers want to have made possible significant progress towards:
- identifying and removing sources of ocean pollution
- mapping and protecting marine ecosystems
- ensuring the ocean is harvested in a sustainable way
- protecting people from ocean hazards
- building capacity to understand and predict ocean conditions
- opening up access to ocean data and technologies.
Recently, the UN announced that Korea, Sweden and Canada renewed their support to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
It is stated that one way to manage and conserve these international waters is to set up marine protected areas. To establish more such zones is one of the explicit goals of the UN’s decade project.
In addition, Vladimir Ryabinin, a Russian marine scientist noted that additional goals include early warning systems for tsunamis, coast and fisheries management, and better planning systems to encourage aspects of the “blue economy” such as offshore wind power generation. Other important aspects of the project are to boost and build national capacity in countries that have not traditionally prioritized ocean management – allowing them to develop national research strategies and ocean policies.
