The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), the ‘Ocean Decade’, is a convening framework to bring science, research, policy and society together to prioritize “the science need for the ocean we want.” The mission of the Ocean Decade is to endorse “transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and our ocean”. Ocean Decade Actions are the tangible initiatives that help fulfil these aims. There are over a hundred Actions implemented globally by research institutes, governments, UN entities, intergovernmental organizations, business and industry, philanthropic and corporate foundations, NGOs, ocean sports, educators, community groups, and more.
We thought that Our Shared Ocean would benefit by being part of the UN Decade Network community, itself already dedicated to delivering crucial ocean knowledge. Furthermore, it would help raise our profile internationally, by providing a platform to communicate our vision and values, and connect with international research networks. Finally, through this partnership, Our Shared Ocean could better promote and establish funding or training opportunities within SIDS.
Following a detailed application process, Our Shared Ocean was endorsed as an Ocean Decade Action 522 on 8th June, World Oceans Day. The announcement was made by Dr. Niall McDonough, Director of Policy, Innovation and Research Support (PIRS), at the OCEANS 23 Conference in Limerick.
This recognition of the programme was an important first step in collaborating and developing co-branded Calls for Decade Actions, whereby Our Shared Ocean calls for projects that align with the priorities of the Decade, can be co-branded as a joint call without changing anything in terms of the grant governance i.e. decision making and funding processes.
