Facilitating global coordination and collaboration on ocean acidification

The IAEA Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) promotes international coordination and collaboration to advance ocean acidification science and help build a strong research community across the globe. The Centre provides access to training, tools, resources and opportunities for networking and collaboration, directly supporting Member States in their initiatives to address SDG14.3.

The OA-ICC acts as a hub to communicate, promote and facilitate international activities on ocean acidification within science, capacity building and communication. The Centre organizes training courses, provides access to data and resources, and help develop standardized methodology and best practices. The OA-ICC works to raise awareness about ocean acidification among various stakeholders and inform about the role that nuclear and isotopic techniques can play in assessing its impacts. The target audience is not only scientists, but any group or individual interested in ocean acidification, such as policy-makers, the media, schools and the general public. The OA-ICC supports global and regional ocean acidification networks, including the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network. The OA-ICC supports the Community of Ocean Action on Ocean Acidification (IAEA is co-focal point) and contributes to the SDG14.3.1 indicator methodology development, led by IOC-UNESCO.

To achieve its objectives, the OA-ICC works with prominent researchers from all corners of the world and many international partners, such as IOC-UNESCO, the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the University of Gothenburg, and the Ocean Foundation.

The OA-ICC is an IAEA Peaceful Uses Initiative project launched at the UN Rio+20 conference in 2012 following increasing concern from IAEA Member States about ocean acidification. The Centre responds to the need to coordinate, promote and facilitate global ocean acidification activities as expressed by scientists of the Ocean Acidification Working Group of the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) project and the International Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS). The OA-ICC has received direct and in-kind contributions from eight IAEA Member States (Australia, France, Italy (ENEA; the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, UK and USA) as well as key international organizations and projects.

In addition, and in close synergy with OA-ICC activities, the IAEA also implements several regional and inter-regional projects with ocean acidification components through its Technical Cooperation Programme, including the inter-regional project, Supporting a Global OA Observing Network towards increased involvement of developing states from 2016-2019 (INT7019). The IAEA also recently launched a new Coordinated Research Project evaluating the impact of ocean acidification on seafood at a global approach (K41018), running from 2019-2022.