On 17 May the ECO Magazine in partnership with the IOC-UNESCO released a special issue on UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030 (Ocean Decade). Mercator Ocean International is a proud sponsor of this important edition, which showcases the different on-going initiatives, innovative solutions, and debates across the globe contributing to the Ocean Decade’s underlying objective “the science we need, for the ocean we want”.

The issue comes just in time for the first International Ocean Decade Conference on 1 June 2021 and provides a good starting point of information targeting the global and diverse ocean science community. Its contributions are grouped by each of the seven societal outcomes of the Ocean Decade: a clean ocean, a healthy and resilient ocean, a productive ocean, a predicted ocean, a safe ocean, an accessible ocean, and an inspiring and engaging ocean.

Mercator Ocean International (MOi) is strongly committed to the Ocean Decade and lends its full support to the IOC-UNESCO, the Ocean Decade global coordinator. Leveraging its extensive experience in operational oceanography, MOi contributes to the objectives of the Ocean Decade by developing and sharing ocean knowledge, integrating digital solutions into sustainable services and engaging with society.

Featured articles on ocean plastic and Sargassum

Audrey Hasson, the European coordinator of GEO Blue Planet at MOi as part of the EU4OceanObs project, contributed to two articles in this EcoMag edition. The first is an article on the unprecedented challenges of Sargassum in the Atlantic Basin and the presentation of the Sargassum Information Hub (p. 138). The Hub serves as a single-entry point to access up-to-date information on Sargassum in the Atlantic Ocean for all stakeholders, from scientists to local fishers.

The second article is on the “Ocean Plastic Webinars” (p. 24), a webinar series which Audrey Hasson has been co-leading since 2020. The Ocean Plastic Webinars offer an open platform where scientists from different fields with an interest in the origin and fate of ocean plastics can network efficiently, share their research, and exchange ideas.

To access the ECO Magazine Ocean Decade issue, click here.

Useful links

• UN Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development – www.oceandecade.org
• GEO Blue Planet- geoblueplanet.org
• GEO Blue Planet EU Coordination (EU4OceanObs) – www.eu4oceanobs.eu
• Sargassum Information Hub – sargassumhub.org
• Ocean Plastics Webinar – oceanplasticwebina.wixsite.com