This article was originally shared by the Ocean Decade
Ocean science is central to all facets of sustainable development and forms the foundation for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, from protecting marine ecosystems and eradicating hunger to building resilient coastal communities. Yet no country can do it alone. That’s why international cooperation is at the heart of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (‘Ocean Decade’) and that of its lead agency, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
In this article, we showcase how UNESCO-IOC empowers countries to generate ocean knowledge and ensures that it reaches those who need it most, driving global ocean science cooperation to support the Ocean Decade.
With 152 Member States, UNESCO-IOC is the only UN body dedicated solely to ocean science and the entity in charge of coordinating the Ocean Decade. Leading the largest number of endorsed Ocean Decade Actions of any UN agency, the UNESCO-IOC works across disciplines and borders to understand, measure, alert, evaluate, and manage the global ocean. From advancing science, observations and early warning systems to coordinating the world’s largest biodiversity database and facilitating the science-policy-society interface, the UNESCO-IOC brings its scientific expertise across the full spectrum of ocean issues.
The four success stories below highlight how the UNESCO‑IOC contributes to the Ocean Decade by tackling ocean deoxygenation, fostering stewardship among early-career ocean professionals, strengthening coastal resilience, and building capacity – all key pieces of the ocean sustainability puzzle.
CoastWAVE: Strengthening community resilience to tsunamis
When we think of tsunamis, the Mediterranean isn’t usually the first place that comes to mind. Yet on 28 December 1908, a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the Strait of Messina in Italy, killing tens of thousands and nearly destroying Messina and Reggio Calabria. In fact, according to UNESCO, there is close to 100% probability that a tsunami of at least one meter will occur in the Mediterranean region within the next 30-50 years.
The UNESCO-IOC CoastWAVE project funded by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) helps coastal communities better anticipate and mitigate the impacts of tsunamis – saving lives and protecting livelihoods. Through CoastWAVE, communities across the North‑East Atlantic, Mediterranean (NEAM), and Connected Seas gain tools to understand, assess, and respond to tsunami risk. This collective capacity is strengthened by developing end to end standard operating procedures for tsunamis, training, awareness campaigns, and tsunami inundation and evacuation mapping. The project also reinforces early warning systems by expanding regional sea‑level monitoring and installing alert sirens in at‑risk areas.
“Coastal communities at risk of tsunamis regularly conduct tsunami evacuation drills and community exercises at national and local levels to strengthen preparedness and resilience.” - Derya Dilmen Vennin, Associate Project Officer, Tsunami Resilience Section, UNESCO-IOC.
In 2024, six new communities – Alexandria (Egypt), Cannes (France), Samos (Greece), Minturno (Italy), Chipiona (Spain), and Büyükçekmece (Türkiye) – were recognized as UNESCO‑IOC Tsunami Ready, marking a significant step toward building resilience across the NEAM region.
The ECOP Programme: Building capacity for the next generation of ocean professionals
Empowering early career ocean professionals means addressing three critical gaps in ocean science at once: persistent generational, gender, and geographic imbalances.
The Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) Programme provides opportunities for emerging ocean experts to realize their full potential to advance ocean sustainability. From a small, informal working group in 2020, it has evolved into a large, global network of more than 7,200 ocean professionals across 166 countries, and it continues to grow.
Since 2021, the Ocean Decade ECOP Programme has supported ECOPs through networking, training, funding, and collaboration opportunities. Today, with more than 60 regional and national nodes, 6 task teams, and 15 endorsed Decade Projects, it is supporting transformative ocean science around the world by incorporating new ways of thinking into global ocean sustainability and stewardship challenges.
“The vision of the ECOP Programme is to support new generations of ocean professionals, ensuring that knowledge is transferred between experienced professionals and ECOPs to promote ocean sustainability for “the ocean we want". It is of paramount importance to include ECOP voices in decision-making through involving them in expert groups, task teams, committees, to foster intergenerational connection, equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills and help strengthen their expertise to protect our ocean.” - Evgeniia Kostianaia, ECOP Programme Global Coordinator.
The Global Ocean Oxygen Decade: Advancing science-based solutions for the ocean’s breath
Low-oxygen areas are expanding across the ocean and into deep waters, killing some creatures that cannot move and changing how and where others live. Off the coasts of Guatemala and Costa Rica, marlin now cling to the surface, avoiding a massive oxygen minimum zone that stretches deep into the water column, creating a dead-zone in the depths.
This and similar challenges are central to the Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD), a Decade Programme which aims to advance research on ocean deoxygenation, and provide scientific advice for decision-making from local to global scales. GOOD is led by the Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE), a UNESCO-IOC group of world-leading scientists which highlights the issue of ocean oxygen in decision-making spaces, in academic circles, and to the public.
Through Ocean Decade projects, GOOD works with researchers and local stakeholders, supports the establishment of ocean oxygen observing systems, strives to make ocean oxygen data more accessible and useable for scientists and decision makers, and provides capacity development opportunities for Early Career Scientists.
“The GOOD-OARS International Summer School 2025 aims to equip the next generation of ocean scientists with the multidisciplinary research skills to enhance our understanding of how marine ecosystems will respond to changing ocean conditions over the coming decades and support efforts to address the harmful impacts of ocean deoxygenation and acidification. Efforts such as this to support Early Career Scientists are vital to sharing knowledge, connecting scientific communities, and furthering research to inform action.” - Aileen Tan Shau Hwai, GO2NE working group Member; Director of the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, Penang, Malaysia, and of the GOOD-OARS Summer School.
From 2025, GOOD and GO2NE will support new international initiatives to address nutrient pollution in data‑scarce coastal nations and enhance ocean observations for identifying areas vulnerable to low oxygen levels now and in the future.
The OceanTeacher Global Academy: Building ocean capacity across all IOC Member States
Capacity development is an essential tenet of IOC’s mission: it enables countries, organisations, and individuals to contribute to, and benefit from, scientific ocean research and the vital services it provides.
For more than a decade, the OceanTeacher Global Academy has been UNESCO‑IOC’s flagship capacity development programme, helping to equip communities and countries with the skills they need to make impactful ocean decisions and policies. Created and hosted by IODE (the International Oceanographic and Data Exchange Programme Office), with the support of the Government of Flanders in Belgium, it mobilizes a wave of experts and training centres towards a common goal.
Today, its online platform and in‑person courses support over 15,000 people within UNESCO-IOC Member States, and beyond, to better understand ocean research, observations, and benefit from UNESCO-IOC services through both face-to-face trainings and online courses. Free and open to all, the programme offers a growing library of innovative topics and “blue skills”, building a global network of ocean champions and ensuring every country has the tools, knowledge, and capacity it needs for a resilient, sustainable ocean future.
“Capacity building is essential to all UNESCO-IOC Member States. It enables them to participate in and benefit from ocean research and services that are vital to sustainable development and human welfare on the planet.” - Ana Carolina Mazzuco, IODE/OTGA Programme Manager, UNESCO-IOC.
By building inclusive networks, driving innovation, and strengthening capacities at all scales, through and beyond the Ocean Decade, UNESCO-IOC is laying the foundation for a long-term, science-driven transformation toward a healthy, resilient, and sustainably managed ocean for generations to come.
For more information, please contact:
Ocean Decade Communications Team ([email protected])
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