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Sustainable development. The decade of the ocean begins January 1

The decision was taken in 2017: 2021-2030 will be the decade of United Nations for the ocean science at the service of a sustainable development. The ambition: to develop “The science we need for the ocean we want”. Kick-off will take place on Friday 1is January.

“At the start of the third millennium, oceanography has the capacity to identify problems and offer solutions”, says Audrey Azoulay, the Director General of Unesco. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization believes that the ocean should play a central role for development by 2030.

“As long as you do not continue to neglect its contributions. Over the next ten years, the international community must invest heavily in ocean science to find solutions to the major global challenges. “ To start with “A post-pandemic recovery route”.

“The ocean is reaching the end of its global warming mitigation capabilities”

Today, states devote on average only 1.7% of their research budgets to ocean sciences. “It is much less than for other major scientific fields”, considers the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of Unesco in a report published on December 14.

“This low percentage is all the more difficult to justify as the contribution of the sea to the world economy has been estimated at 1,500 billion dollars (€ 1,225 billion) in 2010 by the OECD. “ The same year, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the maritime economy provided more than 30 million direct full-time jobs.

Fishing, of course, which feeds more than three billion people, but also maritime transport, tourism, fossil and renewable energies, health… are all areas which justify a better knowledge of the ocean. Especially since “Is reaching the end of its global warming mitigation capabilities”, Unesco still believes.

“We must revolutionize the way we use ocean science”

The task is therefore immense if we want to achieve the objectives defined by the UN General Assembly for this decade: clean, healthy and resilient oceans, productive, predictable, safe, accessible to all and inspiring… Just that !

For the IOC Executive Secretary, Vladimir Ryabinin, “We must revolutionize the way we use ocean science”. Because the objective of this decade is also the Sustainable Development Goal number 14 (SDG 14) defined by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015: that of conserving and using the seas and oceans in a sustainable manner.

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