UN Decade of Ocean Science - UNGA Information Session

Opening remarks by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greetings to everyone gathered with us here in cyberspace. I sincerely hope that wherever you are currently located, that you and your families are safe and well in these troubling times.

I’m sure you’ve heard me say many times, ‘We can’t have a healthy planet without a healthy Ocean’, but let me add that in any global discussion on Biodiversity’s plight, or should we say Life on this planet, the Ocean must be front and centre. Why is that? Simply put, the answer is that the Ocean hosts the great majority of Biodiversity, in other words Life, on this planet.

I’m sure you know by now that the Ocean’s health is in deep trouble. Its ailments of acidification, deoxygenation and warming are principally due to our burgeoning levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, but they are also due to our long-standing harmful fisheries practices and policies, our wanton destruction of natural habitats, and our unconscionable levels of pollution. To reverse that decline in the Ocean’s health, we have to implement SDG14’s principles of sustainability, at the heart of which is the Sustainable Blue Economy.

No healthy planet, without a healthy Ocean. These are not idle words, they are the environmental and humanitarian imperative of our times, and they emanate from the global spirit of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda universally adopted by the Member States of the United Nations in 2015.

That is why we must diligently prepare ourselves for the launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.  We know that the Ocean Decade offers us a unique opportunity to obtain the science we need for the Ocean we want.

Considering that the Ocean hosts the majority of Life on this planet, SDG14’s attainment is fundamental for us all, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science is what will give SDG14 the firm foundations it needs to succeed.

To extrapolate that point: achieving the 2030 Agenda will require greatly improved understanding of the Ocean. We will simply not be able to achieve SDG14 nor many of the other SDGs including those related to hunger, climate, poverty, resilient cities, equitable economic development or human health, if there is not a significant acceleration in the generation and use of relevant Ocean science for the sustainable development solutions.

Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, the Ocean Decade is a tangible and highly visible sign of the UN Member States’ recognition of the urgent need to rise to this challenge; and the Ocean Decade calls for nothing less than a revolution in Ocean science.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Ocean Decade Implementation Plan is the fruit of a highly participatory global and regional process. I have had the privilege of speaking at many regional gatherings around the globe as part of that process, and thus I’m witness to the strong leadership provided throughout by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. I take this opportunity to commend the IOC, its Executive Secretary and his exceptional team for their impeccable efforts; for through them, thousands of stakeholders around the world have had their say on what the Ocean Decade should look like. The result is being presented to you today in the Implementation Plan.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I will not go into detail of what is contained in the Implementation Plan as my colleagues from IOC will do that for you. However, I would like to draw your attention to the key role that Member States will have to play in the Ocean Decade if it is to succeed to its fullest extent. It is expected that such Member State measures will be seen in terms of convening actors into collective action, in catalyzing Decade actions and initiatives, in resourcing Ocean science, and in using the knowledge generated during the Decade to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The Implementation Plan states quite clearly that this is everyone’s Decade, so that we should all embrace the framework presented in the Implementation Plan and feel free to shape and translate it to our regional, national and community needs.

The Ocean Decade has as one of its leitmotifs ‘leave no one behind’. It recognizes that all countries need the capacity to generate, access, use and manage Ocean data, information, knowledge and technology. It is therefore gratifying to see that the plan has a strong focus on capacity development for Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, Landlocked Developing Countries and the next generation of Ocean actors – the Early Career Ocean Professionals.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

New knowledge generated by the Ocean Decade will strengthen the science-policy interface. It will generate evidence to inform sub-national, national and regional policy frameworks and it will have particular relevance for intergovernmental processes such as the World Ocean Assessment, IPBES and IPCC.

And we should always be aware that the Ocean Decade will be carried out in parallel with a number of other important UN initiatives, including the UN Decade of Action for the SDGs and the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Taken together with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement, these decadal initiatives present a comprehensive UN game-plan for us to succeed in overcoming the great challenges facing our world today.

Working together, in fidelity to that game plan, I’m confident that over the next ten years we will overcome. With a united UN voice spreading that message of hope and determination, by providing the realistic, science-based solutions and inciting action to achieve sustainable change, we will finally find that the world is indeed fulfilling the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I’m sure you know, the holding of the next UN Ocean Conference, which is going to be held in Lisbon, has been postponed until 2021; with confirmed dates to be announced once the course of the Covid pandemic is clearer.

In the meantime, step-by-step preparations for the conference are proceeding, and there are many things about it which are already certain. One is that science, innovation, partnerships and solutions will be infused into the work of the conference. This is guaranteed, as the UN Member States in their wisdom decided as such in designating the conference theme.

A second is the fact that the co-hosts, Kenya and Portugal, are determined to oversee a conference that will emulate its 2017 predecessor by being a global game-changer for Ocean action, all in support of SDG14’s successful implementation.

I hope to see you in Lisbon next year, either in person or virtually, that we may gather together once more in our common purpose of scientifically managing the resources and well-being of the Ocean.

I thank you for your kind attention to my words and wish you a productive session.

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