IOC Medium-term Strategy 2022–2029.

Abstract

The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet Earth. It is also the key feature of how our planet looks from the Space. Humans have to find harmony in living with the ocean. To continue benefitting from the ocean life-supporting function, an equilibrium must be sought between the continuously increasing use of ocean space and resources and restoring and maintaining the ocean’s health, which is currently in rapid decline. This understanding is captured in the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The role of the ocean for climate, disaster risk reduction, future of island States is reflected in the Paris Agreement of UNFCCC, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway) and a number of regional, sub-regional and national action frameworks or development strategies. In the complex world we live in, with continuing and accelerating climate change, the success of all these frameworks depends on capacity of science to deliver needed solutions and on the ability and will of stakeholders to effectively use these solutions. The pivotal role of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO is therefore to bring together the scientific communities, the governmental decision-making system, and a broader set of stakeholders within our Member States, including the private sector and the civil society as a whole, to develop efficient, science-based integrated ocean and coastal management and corresponding solutions., taking in consideration relevant indigenous, local and traditional knowledge. Never in the history of our civilization has such cooperation been so urgently required. There is a need to mainstream ocean science for managing the ocean, The emergence of an international legally-binding instrument on conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) means that legally-binding obligations of nations are becoming increasingly ocean science-dependent. Successful execution of the IOC programme during the period of Medium-Term Strategy 2014–2021 and the IOC-led planning and coordination of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) brought IOC to the leading position in the work on systematic provision of ocean-related solutions to the global challenges of our time. However, the ability of IOC to deliver on its expanding mandate and respond both to the ambitions placed on the Decade and its Member States’ aspirations and needs will require, in turn, stronger support from governments, more authoritative decision-making capacity of IOC governing bodies, and adequate and reliable co-design of and investment in the whole value chain of modern ocean science.