20 March 2025 | 10:00 - 12:00 (MDT)
Open Session - ON-SITE ONLY
Room: Glen Miller Ballroom in UMC - 210
Organisers: Chloe Nunn (UN Ocean Decade - IOC-UNESCO)
Session Description:
Join us for a workshop to identify the most productive pathway for Arctic Ocean science coordination within the UN Ocean Decade and the primary ways in which the Arctic science community can benefit from Ocean Decade support. By developing this Arctic coordination structure we provide a clear path for fully realizing the goals of the Ocean Decade in the Arctic, rather than duplicating other efforts already focused on coordinating Arctic Ocean science, or creating unnecessary burden for the Arctic science community.
Agenda
1000-1030: Priority Mapping Drop In Session
Contribute to mapping ICARP IV priorities against the Ocean Decade’s Vision 2030. This is a drop in session during the coffee break.
1030-1115: Arctic Ocean Decade Coordination Progress
Hear from members of the former Arctic Regional Task Force regarding progress in coordinating Ocean Decade Actions in the region. Benefits of engaging with the Ocean Decade and synergies with other international decades will also be presented.
1115-1145: Lessons Learnt: Southern Ocean DCC and ILK in the Decade
We will be joined by speakers from the Southern Ocean Decade Collaborative Centre, and those involved in working to strengthen Indigenous representation, leadership, and amplification in the Ocean Decade.
1145-1200: Planning Discussion
We want to hear from you to help define the coordinating structure for Ocean Decade action in the Arctic and identify resources to support this effort.
Background on the Arctic in the UN Ocean Decade
Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UNDOS, 2021-2030) – the Ocean Decade – is a framework to identify, generate and use critical ocean knowledge that is needed to manage the ocean sustainably, and achieve global aspirations for climate, biodiversity, and human well-being. Through its vision of ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’, the Ocean Decade provides an inclusive, equitable and global framework for diverse actors to co-design and co-deliver transformative ocean science to meet 10 Ocean Decade Challenges. Through a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach, the Ocean Decade is contributing essential knowledge to global, regional and national policy frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
In the Arctic, it is imperative that the Decade complements and intersects with priority setting processes such as ICARP IV, and planning for the IPY 2032. The development of Arctic participation in the Ocean Decade began in 2020 with the development of an Arctic Regional Action Plan through an organized planning effort led by the Kingdom of Denmark. A number of thematic working groups assembled as a task force helped develop the formal plan, and a number of efforts centered in the Arctic have also been endorsed as actions within the Ocean Decade framework. The Action Plan and these endorsed activities could form the basis for an Arctic Decade Collaborative Centre (DCC) to support better coordination, but the critical funding needed to organize such a centre has not materialized. Other coordination efforts are moving forward, including forming a regional alliance in the Arctic to be recognized by the International Global Ocean Observing System and on-going cooperation through a biologically oriented observation network, the Distributed Biological Observatory.
These coordination activities demonstrate many benefits to establishing a strong Arctic coordination structure within the Ocean Decade Framework, most notably because there are already many endorsed Ocean Decade Actions with activities in the Arctic. Without a Decade coordination structure dedicated to the Arctic, these Actions may not benefit as fully as they should from UNDOS endorsement.