News

As 2024 draws to a close, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the significant milestones that have propelled the global ocean community forward. Over the past year, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (‘Ocean Decade’) has played a pivotal role in bridging scientific gaps, highlighting critical needs and fostering multistakeholder collaboration to address the st

Rome, 16 December 2024 – The 17th edition of the “Love Planet Earth” calendar is available from today, Italy’s National Space Day. Produced by Telespazio (a 67/33% Leonardo/Thales joint venture) and e-GEOS (ASI 20%, Telespazio 80%), with the endorsement of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (‘Ocean Decade’), the 2025 calendar is an initiative dedicated to enviro

Backed by 25 foundations, the 2024 Rio Action Statement lays out a bold roadmap for philanthropy to drive resource mobilization, outreach, advocacy, and partnerships in support of Ocean Decade initiatives ahead of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.Click here to read the 2024 Rio Action Statement.The joint Statement was developed during the Fourth Ocean Decade Foundations Dialogue Meeting, held this yea

Discover the winning shots from the Millimages des Récifs contest 2024, organized by the Pacific Coral Reef Institute in French Polynesia.This annual contest, endorsed by the Ocean Decade, highlights the underwater beauties of the coral reef ecosystems of French Polynesia.Julien Anton won this year’s theme, “Eat or be eaten”, with his photo of a parrotfish in a grouper’s mouth.In addition, winners

Chinese and Dutch scholars participate in a field trip on Chongming Island in suburban Shanghai. Photo: Courtesy of Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Research When Chinese scholar Li Xiuzhen first saw the Rhine River while studying in the Netherlands in 1996, she was deeply impressed by the river’s crystal-clear waters, similar to that of China’s Yangtze River. Although Li had never seen the Rhin

The EAF-Nansen Programme in collaboration with the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (NRF-SAIAB) hosted a Post-Survey Workshop on Fish Taxonomy Research from 7 to 18 July 2024. Held at the NRF-SAIAB campus in Makhanda, South Africa, the event brought together ten fisheries scientists from Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya and a team of international experts with different scientific b

Representatives from the projects selected for the 2024-2025 Scale-up program (SCUP) Credit: Paris Peace ForumThe Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, a pioneering initiative dedicated to inspiring the complete mapping of the world’s ocean, has been selected as one of ten global projects for the Paris Peace Forum’s esteemed Scale-up Program (SCUP) in 2024-2025.Announced during the Forum’s

“The ocean prediction science we need for the digital ocean we want” as a powerful conclusion encapsulating the transformative vision of the Ocean Decade[PARIS, FRANCE] – The OceanPredict 2024 Symposium, organized by the OceanPredict/ForeSea programme in collaboration with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), and co-sponsored by Mercator Ocean International and other i

Flexens, Lhyfe and Stockholm University present the conclusions of the Baltic Sea Oxygenation and the Super-Green Hydrogen Economy (BOxHy) project, which aimed to assess the feasibility of injecting oxygen from hydrogen production by water electrolysis to combat “asphyxiation” in the Baltic Sea.The pilot injection project coordinated by Lhyfe will be announced in the coming months. Flexens, Lhyfe

Photo © Mark Schrope/EDFTropical Storm Oscar crept up from the North Atlantic Ocean at a leisurely 40 miles per hour on the morning of Oct. 19, 2024 and ambled toward the Turks and Caicos Islands. Based on the data available, meteorologists believed the tiny storm was unlikely to cause major damage. Yet only three hours later, Oscar’s wind speeds had somehow doubled to a destructive 80 miles per h

From coral reefs with the sea’s highest biodiversity to the globe’s deepest and barren ocean trenches. And from some of the poorest countries on earth to some of the richest. Being part of UNESCO the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) coordinates marine research from the western Pacific to the eastern Indian Ocean.How is WESTPAC approaching this and what are WESTPAC’s priorities

The 31st Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) left Southampton (UK) on 27 November for the 5 week voyage to Buenos Aires (Argentina), taking a plethora of marine measurement along the way to help improve our understanding of this dynamic and changing ocean.The UN Ocean Decade-endorsed Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) is a research programme that samples the open ocean between the UK and the South

Sailors and teams competing in last year’s The Ocean Race – a challenge to be the first to cross 60,000km of ocean space – took the opportunity to contribute data and samples to scientific studies on microplastic and microfibre pollution.Three of the world’s top five hotspots for marine microplastic pollution are in Europe, new data collected by sailors and teams competing in The Ocean Race has re

On October 25, 2024, UNESCO-IOC designated the Municipality of Minturno, Italy, as the country’s first “Tsunami Ready”community. Minturno with a population of 20,296 and an extensive seven-kilometer coastline, joins Cannes (France), Büyükçekmece (Türkiye), Alexandria (Egypt), Samos (Greece) and Chipiona (Spain) as the sixth “Tsunami Ready” community in North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and

Marine invasive species threaten biodiversity, ecosystems, and the livelihoods of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Fiji. These organisms disrupt fragile marine ecosystems, endanger native species, and undermine the blue economy.Implemented by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO as part of the Ocean Biodiversity Information Systems (OBIS) Programme, the Pacific Island

Students of the Laborie Boys' Primary School with the Tsunami Ready Project Local Facilitator and Teacher © ITICThe communities of Laborie, Saint Lucia and Portsmouth, Dominica were recognized as Tsunami Ready by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC). Ceremonies were held on September 24 and 26 respectively to celebrate these two communities, which are the first to be

At the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16), the focus on ocean biodiversity reached new heights, highlighting the pivotal role of global coordination in ocean observing and data accessibility to achieve global biodiversity targets.The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16 took place in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024, and marked the first Biodiversity COP

The event is a pivotal moment for global ocean prediction as the Ocean Decade prepares to enter the second half of its implementationThe landmark event in operational oceanography, taking place from 18-22 November at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, will contribute to the collective efforts of the Ocean Decade to translate science and knowledge into action.On the road to the United Nations Ocean Conf

The close collaboration between UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the sailing world started during the Barcelona World Race in 2014, when 8 IMOCA crews deployed Argo floats to collect temperature and salinity data for the first time.  Now ten years later, the partnership has expanded to include the Vendée Globe, the solo non-stop round the world race. This will be a sig

Chulalongkorn University, represented by its Academic Service Center and the Department of Marine Science of the Faculty of Science, participated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (ONCE) initiative.This initiative is recognized by the Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (Global-ONCE) Program under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Sci