WOC and Unesco IOC Sign Partnership Agreement at SOS 2016
IOC Executive Secretary Vladimir Ryabinin and WOC CEO Paul Holthus signed a Partnership Agreement at the opening session of the Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS), held in Rotterdam from 30 November to 2 November 2017. The IOC Partnership Agreement further increases WOC’s ability to formally engage the ocean business community in key intergovernmental bodies and processes on ocean science, planning and regulations that are important to ocean industry activities.
Vladimir Ryabinin, executive secretary of the IOC, stated that they count on WOC in reaching out to the ocean industry and engaging its huge potential into science-based, profitable but sustainable use of the ocean ecosystems and resources. To a large extent, long-term investments of private sector into green and blue economy secure irreversible implementation of main intergovernmental agreements with regard to protection of climate, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
Capacity Building
The IOC, established in 1960 as a body with functional autonomy within UNESCO, is the only specialised organization for marine science within the UN system. The purpose of the Commission is to promote international cooperation and to coordinate programs in research, services and capacity-building, in order to learn more about the nature and resources of the ocean and coastal areas and to apply that knowledge for the improvement of management, sustainable development, the protection of the marine environment, and the decision-making processes of its Member States. In addition, IOC is recognised through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as the competent international organization in the fields of Marine Scientific Research and Transfer of Marine Technology.
The WOC Smart Ocean-Smart Industries (SO-SI) programme is working to expand the role of ocean industries in collecting and sharing of oceanographic information.
The SO-SI program is developing coordinated initiatives to systematically engage the use of industry vessels, platforms, and other infrastructure (e.g. wind farms, aquaculture facilities) in hosting or deploying scientific instrumentation to gather data. Participation in the program enables companies to demonstrate their contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14a which calls for ‘increasing scientific knowledge’ of the ocean.
Advancing the development of the WOC ‘Smart Ocean-Smart Industries’ programme was the focus of a session at the WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS), Rotterdam, 30 November-2 December 2016.
The SOS 2016 again brought together CEOs and senior executives from a wide range of ocean industries, including: shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, offshore renewable energy, marine mining, ports, dredging, submarine cables, marine science/technology, the maritime legal, finance communities and others.
