United Nations Member States Endorse Outline of Third World Ocean Assessment Draft That Will Expand Knowledge of All Ocean Aspects including Sustainability
NEW YORK, 20 April (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — In another development of importance, following the finalization of the draft agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, United Nations Member States have approved the scope and detailed outline of the third World Ocean Assessment.
This approval marks a significant achievement in the efforts of the United Nations to provide a sound and comprehensive scientific view of the ocean that can be used by global decision-makers to ensure its well-being. On a similar scale as the assessments produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the Global Environment Outlook, the World Ocean Assessment provides the only integrated view of the state of the ocean across all three pillars of sustainable development at the global level: economic, social and environmental.
The development of the scope for the third World Ocean Assessment and the outline that details its content was a collaborative effort between hundreds of scientists, managers, policymakers and academics from over 60 countries and various international and regional organizations. This development was facilitated through a series of regional workshops held in 2022. The full assessment will be delivered in 2025, supported by the efforts of hundreds of contributors involved in developing its content through workshops, writing teams and peer review.
Building on the foundation of the first and second World Ocean Assessment, the outline provides an update on the physical, chemical, biological, economic and social state of the ocean and addresses gaps in knowledge from the previous two assessments, while also identifying where capacity development is needed. The assessment will expand on previous assessments by taking a detailed focus on all aspects of an inclusive and sustainable ocean economy, and the concept of one health that brings together knowledge on the cross-cutting themes of gender, equity, and the contribution of traditional knowledge from indigenous and local communities.
The Joint Coordinators of the Regular Process, Karen Evans from Australia and Roberto de Pinho from Brazil, emphasized the importance of expanding the socioeconomic elements in the third World Ocean Assessment.
“We must recognize the interconnections between our global ocean and almost every aspect of life on our planet if we are to provide relevant and useable information that can be used to shift human use of the ocean from having negative impacts to future sustainability with benefits for all. By expanding the focus of the social and economic components and integrating across the three pillars of sustainable development, this assessment aims to realize a vision of being the key instrument for building environmental, economic and social resilience,” they said.
The Third World Ocean Assessment will, for the first time, not only report on the current state of the ocean, but detail the information, tools and approaches that can be utilized by decision makers to ensure the future sustainability, conservation and restoration of the ocean. It will also incorporate the “One Health” concept, that focuses on the critical nexus between people and the physical and chemical components of the ocean and the organisms that live there.
A focus on ocean governance throughout the assessment will provide a high-level factual overview of the main international agreements of relevance to the ocean, their interlinkages and the progress in implementing them in achieving overall and sectoral safeguarding of the health and resilience of the ocean.
The third World Ocean Assessment will be provided through a new and innovative interactive web-based platform and will incorporate infographics and spatial maps that allow for complex concepts to be provided in useable and understandable formats. The production of factsheets, short videos and summaries for policymakers will improve the accessibility and utility of the assessment across a broad audience.
The Group of Experts of the Regular Process explained the process that was undertaken to produce the scope and outline of the third World Ocean Assessment.
“Significant efforts have been made to ensure that the inputs of the global community provided through the regional workshops held to scope out the third assessment were reflected in the structure, focus and content of the detailed assessment outline. This not only ensures that the assessment reflects the diverse views of the global ocean community, but also delivers to their needs in synthesizing and providing the wealth of knowledge on the ocean that the world needs for ensuring future social, economic and environmental prosperity.”
The introduction of the new agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction creates momentum to achieve the goals set in the 2030 agenda. The United Nations Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares, urged all stakeholders to work together to accelerate the efforts to protect the ocean.
“The ocean is at a critical juncture. We must move forward and accelerate our efforts by working together to achieve our common goals. The United Nations Regular Process, through its World Ocean Assessment, ensures we have an established and inclusive knowledge platform that includes all countries, stakeholders and ocean sectors. The Process has made it a priority in the third cycle to expand its collaborations to better understand how to produce a World Ocean Assessment that truly captures the need of its stakeholders.”
Background
The World Ocean Assessment is developed in the context of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects. The Regular Process is a global mechanism established by the Member States of the United Nations after the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Regular Process is an intergovernmental process guided by international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other applicable international instruments. It regularly reviews the environmental, economic and social aspects of the state of the ocean and provides decision makers with scientific evidence and information.
Accountable to the United Nations General Assembly, the Regular Process is overseen by an Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole composed of Member States under the leadership of two Co-Chairs, one from a developed country and one from a developing country.
A 15-member Bureau (composed of three Member States per regional group), established in 2012, puts into practice the decisions and guidance of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole during intersessional periods.
The Group of Experts established by the General Assembly is an integral part of the Regular Process. It is led by two Joint Coordinators and composed of a maximum of 25 experts (five from each regional group), taking into consideration geographic and gender balance and diversity of expertise. The general task of the Group of Experts is to carry out any assessments within the framework of the Regular Process at the request of the General Assembly under the supervision of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole.
Call for Nomination to Pool of Experts
The call for nominations to join the Pool of Experts in the development of the third World Ocean Assessment has been launched. Experts with relevant expertise may submit their application (online application form) and send their CVs to the Regular Process secretariat (doalos@un.org, copy akhmad.sani@un.org) by 31 July 2023.
The Regular Process is supported by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, of the Secretariat of the United Nations.
More information can be found at: un.org/regularprocess/content/pool-experts.