Brave New World – Brave New Ocean: Building back better through ocean knowledge

Paris: UNESCO will celebrate the start of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (“Ocean Decade”) on 3 February (4.15 to 5.45pm, Central European Time), with the broadcast ‘A Brave New Ocean’, a global online event to raise awareness of the immense challenges and opportunities the ocean provides to achieve the global sustainable development goals.

The event will bring together global leaders, scientists, philanthropists, heads of United Nations agencies, and sports personalities engaged in ocean action. It will be opened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, Prince Albert II of Monaco, President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, and Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg, all of whom will emphasize the ocean’s potential as a wellspring of solutions to build back better in a post-COVID-19 world. President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will cap the event with closing remarks.

The second half of the event will consider how to bring together ocean actors of all ages and continents to achieve the ocean we want. Founding members of the Ocean Decade Alliance – a network of eminent partners of the Ocean Decade – will also affirm their commitments to the ocean for the decade ahead.

‘A Brave New Ocean’ is the first major event of the Ocean Decade which started on 1 January 2021. The Ocean Decade is a global initiative to deepen our scientific knowledge of the sea and protect the health of the Ocean. The aim is to support the creation of the knowledge needed to protect biodiversity and the ocean’s central role in the transition to the sustainable and fair use of its resources as we tackle the realities of climate change.

Through stronger international cooperation, the Ocean Decade will bolster scientific research and innovative technologies to ensure science responds to the needs of society, aiming to deliver substantial improvements by 2030:

A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and removed,
A healthy and resilient ocean where marine ecosystems are mapped and protected,
A predictable ocean where society has the capacity to understand current and future ocean conditions,
A safe ocean where people are protected from ocean hazards,
A sustainably harvested ocean ensuring the provision of food supply,
An accessible ocean with open access to data, information and technologies,
An inspiring and engaging ocean that society understands and values.