UNESCO and the Ocean. [Item 29 of the provisional agenda for the 214th Session of the Executive Board.]

This item has been included in the provisional agenda of the 214th session of the Executive Board at the request of Colombia, Egypt, Kenya, Monaco, Morocco, Oman, Palau, Portugal, Serbia and Togo. An explanatory note, together with a proposed decision is attached. 1. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) undertakes a significant number of ocean-related activities. Founded in 1960, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) brings together 150 Member States. It coordinates major global ocean programmes such as ocean observing, data management, tsunami warning, develops ecosystem-based approaches to ocean management, and acts as a custodian agency for reporting on SDG targets 14.3 and 14.a. UNESCO is also the guardian of 232 marine biosphere reserves and 50 marine World Heritage sites of outstanding universal value. 2. It is within this context that UNESCO, through IOC, is coordinating the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (“the Ocean Decade”), from 2021 to 2030. The Ocean Decade provides a common framework to ensure that ocean science can ably support countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This year, the Ocean Decade is high on agenda of major international summits, such as the “One Ocean Summit” (Brest, February 2022) and the UN Ocean Conference (Lisbon, June 2022), setting the stage for collective mobilization on ocean and climate issues at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27, Sharm El-Sheikh, November 2022) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 3. At the One Ocean Summit, UNESCO announced its readiness to work with partners towards complete mapping of the seabed by 2030, compared to 20% currently, and to expand the work on ocean literacy, contributing to establishing more harmonious relations between humans and the ocean. These two announced ambitions complement other major UNESCO activities related to the ocean. It is relevant to note in this connection that knowledge of high-resolution ocean depth is essential to identifying the location of ocean faults, understanding of ocean currents, tides, and transport of sediments, anticipating seismic and tsunami risks, identifying natural sites and living marine resources that need to be safeguarded for sustainable exploitation. 4. The UNESCO ocean activities are conducted in line with resolutions and decisions adopted by UNESCO and IOC Member States. The second strategic objective of the UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy (2022-2029) is to “work towards sustainable societies by preserving the environment through the promotion of science, technology and natural heritage”. Its third outcome is to “enhance knowledge for climate action, respect for biodiversity, water and ocean management, and disaster risk reduction”. The IOC Medium-Term Strategy (2022-2029) focuses on ocean health, ocean-climate nexus, hazard warnings, ocean economy and knowledge of emerging ocean science issues. This work strongly contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Goal 14 “Conserve and sustainably use the Oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. 5. Overall, the negative impact of climate change, land-based pollution, and other stressors on the ocean and marine life is alarming. While there is considerable progress on the international arena in terms of awareness, global efforts deployed so far to overcome these negative effects are still not up to the hoped-for level. 6. The combination of the forthcoming African Conference on Priority Setting and Partnership Development for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Alexandria, May 2022) and the UNFCCC COP 27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, November 2022) represents a unique opportunity to develop an active research agenda on ocean and climate in line with the UNESCO global priority of Africa. 7. It is suggested therefore that Executive Board adopt a decision that UNESCO continues its active involvement in major ocean related events of 2022, and supports IOC in developing necessary partnerships, further strengthening momentum of the Ocean Decade, successfully seeking extrabudgetary resources and increasing UNESCO’s overall contribution to the protection of the seas and ocean from the effects of climate change as well as the preservation of the sustainability and diversity of marine life.

OPENASFA INPUT

Published

Non Refereed