World Ocean Assessment - Identification of Priorities

In June 2022, the Planetary Collaboration held its first meeting with the UN DOALOS (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea), which is part of the UN Office of Legal Affairs. The goal of the meeting was to introduce Planetary Collaboration and a proposal to: identify the priority themes raised on The Second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II); and, based on the survey’s results, create a community of practice for SDG 14 –Life Below Water with the aim to support Governments and the Private Sector in capacity-building.

After two months, the survey to identify the priority themes was launched. The WOA II was analysed, and its more than 1,000 pages were converted into 53 simple questions, divided into two groups. The methodology applied included knowledge management techniques to focus on practical aspects that could be implemented and reused by multi-stakeholders. In total, 83 key specialists and members of the Group of Experts replied to the survey.

83 53 6 5

Participants Questions Sectors Oceanic regions

After analysing the data, the Planetary Collaboration presented its results at three UN DOALOS regional workshops (in the Netherlands, Indonesia, and Brazil). Overall, the project sought to create an understanding of the priority themes in the WOA II and provide accessible information to support capacity-building efforts. As a result, the survey data were used to provide inputs and support the development of the scope for the Third World Ocean Assessment.

The next steps for this project involve creating a Community of Practice to engage other stakeholders in acting on the drivers and pressures for a sustainable and inclusive ocean economy. This includes sharing capacity across sectors and institutions to understand options for managing marine areas.

Based on data analysis and the scope of the Third World Ocean Assessment, we selected a sustainable and inclusive ocean economy as our focus area to support the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).