ALBERT

Description: This event entitled “Verso la Generazione Oceano” (Towards the Generation Ocean) was the first initiative organized in Italy to present the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (hereinafter the “Decade”). It was held on 22 October 2020 in Milan, Italy. Its goal was to illustrate to the Italian stakeholders the objectives and the plans of the Decade in order to pave the way for the creation of the Generation Ocean campaign (#versolagenerazioneoceano) that will be developed in Italy in 2021. Moreover, this event was organized with the aim to work with different stakeholders and sectors of the society in start developing ideas to be implemented during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2031). This event was planned to take place in May 2020 and the preparatory work started in January 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, it was postponed and rescheduled as a digital event to 22 October 2020. Nutrition, oxygen, energy, work, health: everything that allows us to live is linked to the ocean. To promote greater knowledge, conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources, the United Nations declared 2021-2030 "Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development". The Decade aims to mobilise the scientific community, policymakers, business and civil society around a collaborative research and technological innovation programme. It will enable the coordination of research programmes, observation systems, capacity building, maritime spatial planning, and marine risk reduction, to improve the management of ocean and coastal zone resources. The Decade of Ocean Sciences should accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean, seas and marine resources. The goal is also to create together “the ocean we need, for the future we want”. With this in mind, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) represented by its Executive Secretary, Dr Vladimir Ryabinin, organised a popular event "Towards the Generation Ocean" to present in Italy the Decade of Ocean Science. In collaboration with various partners, the event aims to initiate a movement that gives voice to the importance of having a resilient ocean, a productive ocean and a healthy ocean. The event focussed on three great challenges: "climate change, food safety and human health". From the No’hma theatre in Milan, “Towards the Generation Ocean” gathered virtually from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., researchers, professionals, sustainable entrepreneurs, and also chefs, musicians, journalists and experts from various sectors of society. The time to act is now and we must act together! was the message. The event was an initiative dedicated to the role of marine scientific research as an essential tool to ensure the health of the planet and the announcement of a new era represented by the "Generation Ocean". It strived to spread greater awareness of the importance of the ocean and to promote innovative solutions to the challenges we will face in the coming years. At the end of the morning, the event hosted the award ceremony of Oceanthon, the digital hackathon aimed at students, researchers, developers, experts in communication, economics, marketing and design, participating in the design of innovative ideas for the conservation of the ocean. The highlight of the mobilisation event was the presentation of the Oceanthon Prize by Davide Villa, CMO and Board Member of E.ON Italia to the winning “River Cleaner” project by Blue Eco Line startup. The initiative mobilized institutions, companies, non-profit organizations, media and popular people with great interest in the objectives of the Decade. All of them are called to become the promoters of specific initiatives and helper of the IOC as coordinator of the Decade in raising awareness, and facilitating stakeholders’ commitments for the Decade. See related web article: https://en.unesco.org/news/towards-generation-ocean-united-create-ocean-we-need-future-we-want .

Description: OPENASFA INPUT For bibliographic purposes this document should be cited as follows: UNESCO-IOC. 2020. Italian Digital Mobilization Event for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: “Towards the Generation Ocean”, 22 October 2020, Milan, Italy. Paris, UNESCO, (Workshop Reports, 292).

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Description: Pursuant to 200 EX/Decision 5.I.B and 38 C/Resolution 19, the Director-General submits to the General Conference this information document which contains a summary of progress made in the implementation of the MAB Strategy 2015-2025 and the Lima Action Plan for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves 2016-2025. Notably, this document includes information recently collected for and presented at the 29th session of the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and Biosphere Programme held from 12 to 15 June 2017 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme Strategy 2015-2025 (“the MAB Strategy") was endorsed by the 38th session of the General Conference (38 C/Resolution 19) following a broad and transparent consultation process and the collective contributions of many Member States under the auspices of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB ICC). Through 38 C/Resolution 19, the General Conference also encouraged the MAB ICC, in cooperation with the MAB Secretariat, to finalize the development of the Lima Action Plan for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) 2016-2025 (“Lima Action Plan”) in support of the MAB Strategy, and requested the Director-General to present to the Executive Board, at its 200th session, a progress report on the implementation of the MAB Strategy and the associated Lima Action Plan, including their contribution to the implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At its 200th session, the Executive Board expressed its appreciation to the Director-General for the report and to Peru for hosting the Lima Congress and the 28th MAB ICC (14-17 March 2016, Lima, Peru). The Executive Board then endorsed the Lima Action Plan as adopted and endorsed respectively by the 28th MAB ICC and the Lima Congress and requested the Director-General to present a progress report on the implementation of the MAB Strategy for 2015-2025 and the Lima Action Plan to the 39th session of the General Conference (200 EX/Decision 5.I.B). The requested progress report is contained in the present document. Relevant information can also be found in the report of the MAB ICC on its activities (2016-2017) contained in document 39 C/REP/10. For ease of reference, the complete texts of the MAB Strategy, the Lima Action Plan and the Lima Congress Declaration are available in a single publication (in the six official languages of UNESCO) entitled “A New Roadmap for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and its World Network of Biosphere Reserves”.

Description: OPENASFA INPUT Report submitted for information to the UNESCO General Conference, 39th Session, Paris, 2017.

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: Since the 1990s UNESCO has been a leading UN Organization in Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology. It developed a number of international normative instruments, which were adopted by expert advisory bodies and became the basis for two global capacity building programmes (Assisting Bioethics Committees (ABC) and Ethics Education Programme (EEP)) that are managed by Headquarters and implemented with the support of Field Offices. This evaluation examined how the Organization’s Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology Programme had been designed and implemented during 2010-2016, as well as the results achieved with the aim of suggesting improvements. The evaluation found that past and current normative work continues to drive the programme. UNESCO also provides a global forum for reflection on Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology through its advisory bodies, though the working methods of the latter require review. Its capacity building programmes are relevant, but not sufficiently demand-driven and require different delivery modalities. The Organization’s partnerships in the field are underutilized and their full potential not yet realized.

Description: OPENASFA INPUT

Description: Published

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Description: Given its unique role within the UN system and its current suite of services and activities related to ocean science, including capacity building and transfer of marine technology (CBTMT), the IOC could play an important role in the implementation of a future International Legally Binding Instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The potential to make a strong contribution to the BBNJ process was recognised early on by IOC Member States. Since 2015, the IOC Governing Bodies (Assembly and Executive Council) have included a recurrent agenda item on the BBNJ process and adopted decisions supporting the active participation of IOC and its Member States in BBNJ meetings (BBNJ Preparatory Committee and the Intergovernmental Conference sessions since 2018). With the progress of the BBNJ negotiation process, the scientific services that will potentially be required to support the implementation of the ILBI are becoming clearer. The President’s revised draft text of the ILBI (November 2019)1 that will be considered in the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC-4) reinforces the central role of a Clearing-House Mechanism (ClHM) in the agreement, and identifies IOC as a potential manager of the CIHM in association with relevant organizations including the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The President’s note introducing the draft text also recalls the four principal topics that were identified in UNGA Resolution 72/249 for negotiations to develop an ILBI namely: (i) marine genetic resources (MGR), including questions on the sharing of benefits; (ii) measures such as area-based management tools (ABMT), including marine protected areas; (iii) environmental impact assessments (EIA); and (iv) capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology (CBTMT). The IOC has prepared this non-paper for the information of interested participants in the negotiation process. The non-paper has the following objectives: (i) To describe IOC’s existing services of relevance to the implementation of a future ILBI (refer Section 2). (ii) To identify the potential additional services, including an expanded ClHM that could be developed within IOC to support a future ILBI based on the current draft text (refer Section 3). (iii) To present an analysis of the potential contribution of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (the “Ocean Decade”) to the BBNJ process (refer Section 4).

Description: OPENASFA INPUT

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: The draft GOOS Strategy 2030 was presented and discussed, the document is currently out for broad review with the ocean observing community, partners, sponsors and regional representatives. It will be presented to the IOC Member States at the IOC Executive Council (EC-51) in July for comment. The aim will be to have final version available in the autumn. The strategy is ambitious, about where we should be going for a global ocean observing system over the coming decade. It is clear that GOOS cannot achieve this alone and partnership will be vital. With the 2030 Strategy GOOS is asking the community and partners are you willing to support this vision and work together to achieve it. The Steering Committee had already provided feedback on an earlier version and was invited to provide feedback on this second major draft, which is summarised below. GOOS role: In order for this to be accomplished, GOOS will need to lead the ocean observing community. it was generally agreed that GOOS is in a unique position to do this and has general support for this mandate. Future vision: The strategy needs some further envisioning around the future use, e.g. fisheries management, marine protected areas (MPAs), port authorities, energy and aquaculture. Ocean science is being driven by some unknowns, climate prediction, deep ocean, future of the anomaly of high sea level rise areas, some of these things should also be driving the GOOS Strategy. Some additional thought is required as to the needs for the system 10 years out, there are still major science problems to be solved and the future use of the oceans may be quite different to today. For instance, the oceans will likely be more closely managed. The future will also be about Earth System prediction and the role that oceans play in this will be vital. The feedback was to make the envisioning even more ambitious, what products will be needed to support this future use and then to assess the weaknesses of the system against this future use. End to end system integration – observations to use: The link in the strategy to use of ocean observations was viewed as important, however it was noted that the uptake of information and impacts of such information is reliant upon decision-making processes which are affected by a number of forces and influences (especially for place-based decision-making). It was suggested that the strategy should note the importance of GOOS to engage with those engaging in social science research and related ocean observing use/impact activities, e.g. in the International Council for Science (ICS) and within the GRAs. The delivery to end use was seen as important and relevant to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Increasing engagement & global to local: The concept of FOO, GOOS and the strategy will need to be better communicated to the whole community in order for success to be achieved. GOOS will need to communicate more broadly to capture more participants. It was clear from the regional workshop held the previous day that not all the attendees felt they were part of a global ocean observing system. In addition GOOS needs to act at a range of levels from local to regional to global. Scales matter for data coordination and for interest in regional/local issues, they are also critical for science policy interface and decision making. Many GOOS GRAs have symbiotic relationships with local regional players and this good work locally/regionally does not seem to be fully recognized in the strategy. It will be vital for GOOS to scale down to the regional level, perhaps the strategy could include an infographic on this. Sustainability: This is an important message for developing countries, many countries are interested in sustainable solutions and this is now a new way of thinking that is developing rapidly. Open data: This is a fundamental, however there was general agreement that open data cannot yet be mandated. GOOS should however actively encourage data distribution, there are countries that want share, but do not currently have the capability or knowledge to do so. GOOS should be able to help or support them to share data, other communities have seen real change and benefits from this approach. Gaps: Several of the comments stressed key areas to be address in order to deliver the global integrated vision: ● shelf-boundary areas; these are also within countries EEZ areas and so are more difficult to address with an integrated perspective. The issue of ocean observing within countries EEZ will need to be addressed ● capacity building; particularly how less developed nations can access and process data. Developing countries can benefit significantly from an integrated system but to make sure they can take advantage of these benefits we need to address use. ● polar regions; oceanic processes (Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean) and sea-ice conditions to complement ocean's contributions to Earth System prediction Sustainability of observations: even for physical measurements many records are still short relative to the time scales of natural variability and anthropogenic change Audience: Target audience is policy space, industry and users across the themes, plus the observing community, however the language needs to be outward. Engagement: The strategy needs to be owned and broadcast by the GOOS community, including the GRAs.

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Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: In conformity with Decision 43 COM 5D (Baku, 2019), this document presents a Progress report on the implementation of the World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy in Africa.

Description: OPENASFA INPUT

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: La détermination de la chloruration des eaux de mer est effectuée depuis de nombreuses années par la méthode volémetrisque de Moher.

Description: Published