2024 Ocean Decade Conference takes stock of latest ocean science and proposes ways forward to address multiple ocean threats

The 2024 Ocean Decade Conference (10-12 April 2024) brought together leading ocean scientists, policymakers, and civil society institutions to address the most pressing challenges facing the ocean and humanity today. A key rallying moment for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, now in its fourth year, the Conference featured a range of events and discussions led by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission centred on ocean health, including new approaches to combat eutrophication and hypoxia, strategies to understand and beat marine pollution, and key findings in ocean carbon research.

Tackling Eutrophication and Hypoxia

The satellite event 'New Approaches to Combat Eutrophication and Hypoxia' (9 April) brought together partners from the GEF-8 Clean and Healthy Ocean Integrated Program (CHO-IP) to launch a new phase of efforts to combat eutrophication and hypoxia. Representatives from key organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Development Bank for Latin America (CAF), and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), along with the Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE) of IOC/UNESCO and the Global Water Partnership (GWP), outlined the program's objectives over a 90-minute deoxygenation primer, panel discussion, and Q&A session.

During the event, participants emphasized the following key points:

• Early involvement of partners across scales and sectors is crucial to foster ownership and ensure long-term outcomes.
• Scientific data must be shared openly and presented in a clear, timely, and intelligible manner.
• Collaboration with regional actors is essential to identify the most effective science-based actions.
• International institutions should engage with local initiatives to address hypoxic conditions.

The program will now advance to its global coordination phase, building connections with national actors and networks in 14 participating countries to implement solutions.

Understanding and Beating Marine Pollution by 2050

Directly addressing the first Challenge of the Ocean Decade and its 2030 Vision process, the event titled 'How to Understand and Beat Marine Pollution by 2050' (10 April) focused on ocean pollution and its impact on ecosystems, human health, and economies. Despite progress, a comprehensive picture of pollution's effects on oceans remains elusive. This interactive discussion explored strategies to achieve a clearer understanding of pollution and establish an action plan to mitigate it by 2050.

Ocean Carbon - The Knowns and Unknowns

The IOC/UNESCO Secretariat also brought together the ocean carbon research community around the side event titled 'Ocean Carbon - the knowns and unknowns' (12 April), presenting key Decade activities aiming to fill knowledge gaps and identify priority actions in ocean carbon science for sustainable development.

• Global Ocean Decade Programme for Blue Carbon (GO-BC)
• Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS)
• IOC working group Integrated Ocean Carbon Research (IOC-R)

Key messages from the session highlighted that:

• There are still significant gaps in our understanding of changing carbonate chemistry and its effects on marine ecosystems.
• A global service for ocean observations requires support from governments and industry.
• Collaboration and community-building are essential to support scientific research and ensure it is translated into actionable advice.

The side event also provided a platform for the Global Ocean Decade Programme for Blue Carbon (GO-BC) to announce a new partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), focusing on building capacity in blue carbon science.

Prof. Steve Widdicombe, Director of Science at Plymouth Marine Laboratories and co-lead of the Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS) programme, launched a series of White Papers published as part of the IOC/UNESCO Technical Series.

Ocean Decade: Science at the centre of sustainable development

In the context of the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference, these side events provided a multi stakeholder platform for meaningful dialogue and engagement toward toward a healthier and more sustainable ocean, based on collaborations across sectors and a focus on science-based solutions.

The events underscored the crucial importance and continuous commitment of the international scientific community to the success of the Ocean Decade 2021-2030 as the global initiative inches toward its mid-point in 2025.

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