June 8th, 2022

Ocean Decade expands global coordination network to strengthen impact of activities

Decade Collaborative Centres are institutions that are committed to the vision and mission of the Decade. They make significant and sustained efforts to support the Decade by coordinating existing Decade Actions, catalysing new initiatives, leading targeted communications and outreach, and mobilising resources.

Announced as part of the newly endorsed Ocean Decade Actions, the two first DCCs will further the multistakeholder and multiscale co-design and co-delivery of ocean action.

Decade Collaborative Centre for the Northeast Pacific Ocean

The Northeast Pacific Ocean Basin is an ideal region for a DCC. Within the Northeast Pacific region there are important domains that cross US and Canadian National borders. This region is one of the most productive regions on Earth, hosting rich biodiversity from the coastline, to the open ocean, to the deep sea, and supporting human communities for millennia. There are many active existing networks of research and observing organizations, industries, government entities, and coastal communities that are working to inform sustainable development related to the ocean. In addition, there is increased recognition of the importance of elevating Indigenous and other under-served communities in co-developing and mobilizing ocean knowledge for sustainable development. Improved coordination of these diverse programs and partners is needed to launch new initiatives and support implementation of the Ocean Decade. An active DCC in this region can help support coordination as well identify best practices, principles, and lessons that can be applied in other regions around the globe.

The DCC for the Northeast Pacific Ocean (DCC NEP) will be hosted by the Tula Foundation in British Columbia, Canada. It will work across all ten Ocean Decade Challenges in the Northeast Pacific region. In addition to its regional focus that will encompass all Ocean Decade Challenges, the DCC NEP will have a particular focus on supporting and mobilizing participation by Indigenous peoples and local communities and the development of Indigenous-led Decade Actions.

Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Centre for Ocean-Climate Solutions (DCC OCS)

Understanding the nexus of the ocean and climate crises and developing ocean-based solutions are critical to the Ocean Decade. The primary focus of the proposed DCC OCS is on leading and supporting processes to co-design, develop, test, and ultimately deploy scalable, equitable ocean-based solutions to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change (Challenge 5). To advance this mission, this Collaborative Centre will engage with a global set of stakeholders and institutions to connect those with the capacity for generating new science and engineering knowledge to those with capacity to develop and test innovations and solutions (Challenge 4). Among the system-level challenges targeted by the Ocean Visions – UN DCC OCS are ocean-based solutions to ameliorating climate change, enhancing food security (Challenge 3), and building the climate resiliency of critical marine ecosystems and coastal communities (Challenges 1 and 2).

The DCC is hosted by a partnership between Ocean Visions, Georgia Tech, and the Georgia Aquarium in the United States. They will coordinate Decade Actions focused on solutions at the ocean-climate nexus across all regions and ocean basins. It will work in close collaboration with other Decade coordination structures focusing on different aspects of the ocean-climate nexus.

For more information check out the full news release.