complete. The large role of the ocean for the human environment and health was
furthermore brought out at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972. During the IDOE the negotiations for the law of the sea were initiated
and almost completed with signature in 1982. The research during the IDOE also
triggered and stimulated support for several large scale global ocean research
programmes becoming parts of the World Climate Research Programme and
International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, as well as studies of marine pollution including biological effects, interaction between physical, chemical and biological processes. Sustained observations, monitoring and warning systems
attracted increasing attention, including for seawater and sea food contamination,
and algal blooms. The international reviews of the health of the ocean by the Joint
Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection
(GESAMP) were initiated, with the first completed in 1982, 10 years after the
Stockholm Conference. At the end of the Decade in June 1981 the IOC requested its
advisory bodies to make a study of “expected major trends in ocean research up to
the year 2000 (UNESCO 1984).
The successful generation and completion of the IDOE demonstrated that the
drive for cooperation in ocean sciences became a success, leading to attraction of
gifted scientists from several disciplines to do ocean studies, with new technologies
for observations and experiments. The vision of the founders of SCOR proved to be
realistic. It should be noted that the cooperation was developed and tested during
the cold war. The last two decades of the Century saw the development of the
Sustainable Development paradigm, the UN Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio 1992, resulting in the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, and conventions on climate change and biological diversity, and several follow-up meetings,
including on intergovernmental programmes regarding Small Island Developing
States, control of land-based sources of marine pollution and addressing risk
reduction.
In the new Millennium the global framework of international agreements has
been further developed through the Outcome Document of the Sustainable Development Conference Rio + 20 in 2012; the Small Island Developing States SAMOA
Pathway of 2014; the SENDAI Pathway for Risk Reduction of the 3rd UN Risk
Reduction Conference 2015; the results of the UNFCCC-COP 21 in Paris 2015, in
addition to the new Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
The implementation of all these international legal instruments and agreements
requires large efforts at national level with coordinated and cohesive programmes
responding to the specific needs at national level, as well as to the regional and
global requirements. In order to achieve this there is a strong need to strengthen the
dialogue, interaction, cooperation and coordination between institutions and sectors
at national and international level, as well as between scientific disciplines, observations and services. This aspect is particularly important for the ocean. Although
some frameworks have been agreed, for instance with respect to sustained ocean
observations, data and information exchange, capacity building and development,
540
G. Kullenberg
furthermore brought out at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972. During the IDOE the negotiations for the law of the sea were initiated
and almost completed with signature in 1982. The research during the IDOE also
triggered and stimulated support for several large scale global ocean research
programmes becoming parts of the World Climate Research Programme and
International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, as well as studies of marine pollution including biological effects, interaction between physical, chemical and biological processes. Sustained observations, monitoring and warning systems
attracted increasing attention, including for seawater and sea food contamination,
and algal blooms. The international reviews of the health of the ocean by the Joint
Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection
(GESAMP) were initiated, with the first completed in 1982, 10 years after the
Stockholm Conference. At the end of the Decade in June 1981 the IOC requested its
advisory bodies to make a study of “expected major trends in ocean research up to
the year 2000 (UNESCO 1984).
The successful generation and completion of the IDOE demonstrated that the
drive for cooperation in ocean sciences became a success, leading to attraction of
gifted scientists from several disciplines to do ocean studies, with new technologies
for observations and experiments. The vision of the founders of SCOR proved to be
realistic. It should be noted that the cooperation was developed and tested during
the cold war. The last two decades of the Century saw the development of the
Sustainable Development paradigm, the UN Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio 1992, resulting in the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, and conventions on climate change and biological diversity, and several follow-up meetings,
including on intergovernmental programmes regarding Small Island Developing
States, control of land-based sources of marine pollution and addressing risk
reduction.
In the new Millennium the global framework of international agreements has
been further developed through the Outcome Document of the Sustainable Development Conference Rio + 20 in 2012; the Small Island Developing States SAMOA
Pathway of 2014; the SENDAI Pathway for Risk Reduction of the 3rd UN Risk
Reduction Conference 2015; the results of the UNFCCC-COP 21 in Paris 2015, in
addition to the new Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
The implementation of all these international legal instruments and agreements
requires large efforts at national level with coordinated and cohesive programmes
responding to the specific needs at national level, as well as to the regional and
global requirements. In order to achieve this there is a strong need to strengthen the
dialogue, interaction, cooperation and coordination between institutions and sectors
at national and international level, as well as between scientific disciplines, observations and services. This aspect is particularly important for the ocean. Although
some frameworks have been agreed, for instance with respect to sustained ocean
observations, data and information exchange, capacity building and development,
540
G. Kullenberg