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UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) kicked off the start of the Ocean Decade (2021-2030) with ‘A Brave New Ocean’, a virtual event that brought together ocean experts and leaders from around the world to highlight the immense challenges and opportunities that ocean knowledge can offer humanity to build a better and stronger post-pandemic world.

Less than twenty per cent of the world’s oceans have been explored so far. That is not a lot. But it is enough for us to know that the oceans are threatened by global warming, acidification, and pollution. Coral bleaching is just one illustration of the decline of marine ecosystems. The consequences are not just environmental. Nearly three billion people depend directly on marine and coastal biodiversity for their survival. By 2050, coastal areas that are home to300 million people could be threatened by rising sea levels due to climate change.

A new era of sailing for science is beginning with  IMOCA skippers during the Vendée Globe supporting the Global Ocean Observing System, within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), and under the leadership of OceanOPS.

If it was not already enough to race across all the world's oceans, braving equipment failure and stormy conditions, these brave Vendée Globe skippers have also been taking vital ocean observations, proof of their engagement for the ocean!

Paris, 29 January – UNESCO will celebrate the start of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (“Ocean Decade”) on 3 February (4.15 to 5.45pm, Central European Time), with the broadcast ‘A Brave New Ocean’, a global online event to raise awareness of the immense challenges and opportunities the ocean provides to achieve the global sustainable development goals.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) recently published an interactive communication guide, developed in close cooperation between experts and communicators of the European Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and MSPglobal platforms.

Paris, 22 December—Over the next ten years, the international community must invest massively in ocean sciences to find innovative solutions to major global challenges. This is the objective, the very raison d'être of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030, which will begin on 1 January by proclaiming "The science we need for the ocean we want!".

Despite COVID-19 restrictions, UNESCO together with the UK National Oceanography Centre enabled Pakistan to repair the Karachi tide gauge, key instrument to monitoring sea level data for Pakistan and the region.

A new compendium of case studies on the economic impacts of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) on wild and recreational fisheries and aquaculture has recently been published by the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES).

Paris, 14 December - Lack of funding is hampering the development and implementation of marine research and its valuable applications, according to the Second Global Ocean Science Report, published by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), ahead of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).