UNOC2022, Lisbon, 27 June – 2 July 2022
With two weeks to go until the international ocean policy community gathers in Lisbon for the second UN Ocean Conference (UNOC2022), iAtlantic’s WP6 stakeholder engagement team are busy making preparations to support our project presence there.
UNOC2022 brings together the global ocean community to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Postponed from 2020 due to Covid-19, the event is co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal under the overarching theme of “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions”. It seeks to accelerate much needed science-based innovative solutions to start a new chapter of global ocean action, and we anticipate that iAtlantic has much to offer to the conversations and discussion through the week.
On Wednesday 29 June, an iAtlantic UNOC side event “Scaling up ambition in science partnerships to address challenges at ocean basin scale: examples from the iAtlantic project” will focus on the importance of international, cross-sectoral collaboration to provide the science needed to address the most pressing ocean challenges. We are delighted and privileged to welcome opening remarks from Dr John Bell (Director ‘Healthy Planet’, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation, European Commission), Mr Lawrence Hanson (Associate Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada), and Dr Jane Lubchenco (Deputy Director for Climate & Environment, U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). The main speaker programme features presentations from our partners across the Atlantic, representing academia, government (DFO, NOAA), industry (IOGP), and civil society (IUCN). A special highlight of this event is a live link to scientists on the NOAA Okeanos Explorer research vessel in the high seas of the mid-Atlantic, where they will be investigating previously unexplored areas of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. Collectively, our speakers will demonstrate how shared scientific ambition can be an effective driver for innovative and productive partnerships that bring benefits to the wider global ocean community. Full event details are online here.
In the margins of the conference, iAtlantic will also convene its first Stakeholder Dialogue event. These events allow us to formally engage with a range of global, regional and sectoral stakeholders to ensure feedback into relevant areas of iAtlantic research, explore how iAtlantic results will be used by different end-users, and where sectoral groups may be able to contribute knowledge, data and expertise to the project effort. Results from iAtlantic will be presented, ideas exchanged, and relevant issues discussed. This first Dialogue event is tailored towards the NGO and civil society community – of which many organisations will be present in Lisbon for the UNOC. Participation is by invitation (but please contact vikki.gunn@seascapeconsultants.co.uk if you’d like to join); full event details are on the Stakeholder Dialogue event webpage.
iAtlantic partners are involved in a range of other side events, meetings and presentations during the course of the week of UNOC – including iAtlantic Fellow Beatriz Vinha, who is part of the Portuguese delegation at the UN Ocean Youth and Innovation Forum. We look forward to a very busy and productive week in Lisbon, and would like to extend our thanks in advance to all our presenters and those who support our iAtlantic events.
