Seabed 2030 tapped for Paris Peace Forum Scale-up Program

The Paris Peace Forum has selected the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project for its prestigious Scale-up Program (SCUP) in 2024–2025, recognizing its efforts to achieve a fully mapped ocean floor.

The SCUP is designed to elevate initiatives showcased at the Paris Peace Forum, offering selected projects year-long support from the Paris Peace Forum Secretariat. The Paris Peace Forum is an annual international event focused on reviving and improving global governance. Through its SCUP, Seabed 2030 will receive a year of support from senior figures in industry and international agencies to scale its impact, strengthen partnerships and advance its mission to deepen knowledge of the marine environment – further bolstering efforts to deliver a complete map of the seafloor by the end of the decade.

“We are thrilled that Seabed 2030 has been selected for the Paris Peace Forum’s Scale-up Program,” said Steve Hall, head of partnerships for Seabed 2030, who represented the initiative at this year’s Forum. “This support aligns perfectly with our mission to accelerate global ocean mapping, which is essential not only for protecting biodiversity and addressing climate change but also for unlocking numerous other benefits. We look forward to working closely with the Paris Peace Forum community to further amplify our reach and impact.”

At the eighth edition of the Forum in 2025, Seabed 2030 will join fellow cohort members in showcasing its progress, highlighting the results of SCUP’s support.

Seabed 2030, a partnership between The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO, aims to map the entire ocean floor by 2030 and make the data freely accessible through the GEBCO Ocean Map. Recognized as a UN Ocean Decade initiative, GEBCO is the sole organization mandated to chart the global seafloor, operating under the IHO and the IOC. All data collected and shared with the Seabed 2030 project will be included in the free and publicly available GEBCO global grid.