32.5 Institutional Arrangements
Ocean research and observation activities are covering a wide range of interests,
sectors, users and uses, disciplines, transfer of technology, skills and technology
development, industrial developments and now biotechnology of potentially very
large significance. All of these activities are of great socio-economic relevance, and
the goal to ensure that benefits are shared in a fair way is one of the foundations of
UNCLOS. Observations of the ocean and coastal seas so far largely rest on the
scientific communities involving several disciplines and institutions. Nevertheless,
a gradual shift in the methods of observing the ocean is underway from exploration
to a more sustained nature with the aim to provide ocean services, possibly
eventually matching the meteorological weather services.
The statutory role of the IOC is to promote coordination and cooperation
in ocean research, services and capacity building. Since 1960 the number of
institutions and other organizations having the marine environment or parts thereof
in their sphere of interest has increased at least by an order of magnitude, probably
two. This is reflected in the number of marine scientists, research and education
institutions and significant infrastructure investments for ocean observations. These
show the move of ocean sciences from exploration by means of research vessels to
permanent establishments of large distributed facilities, as noted in Field
et al. (2002).
The diversity of interests including the fast growing development of ocean
economy, the fragmented, essentially sector-oriented management despite
UNCLOS, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda call for a
unifying proposal for mobilizing over a time period new government and industrial
resources in support of marine science, its applications and links to policy making,
sustained observations and services with related capacity development and technology transfer in order to meet the goal of sustainable ocean development. The
experiences from the International Decade for Ocean Exploration 1971–1980, and
the International Year of the Ocean 1998 show that they stimulated much support
for ocean-related activities at local, national and global level, in governments, the
public, civil society and scientific communities. The national governments were
willing to provide additional resources for research and infrastructure, while local
governments supported local awareness creating actions. These experiences are
very positive and support the idea of launching another ocean decade to address the
issues, priorities and uncertainties, and ensuring delivery of results in a timely
fashion to users, in particular Governments and concerned national Agencies.
It can be assumed that, at the global level, the UN system will continue to play a
central role in the protection of the world ocean and the management of the marine
resources, relying on: UNCLOS as the legal basis; major relevant programmes as
the substantive basis for action; structures of the UN system supporting the
programmes as the institutional basis for action. Some structural-institutional issues
need be addressed and resolved. These include arrangements for reviewing progress
and guiding the implementation of the Law of the Sea, chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the
542
G. Kullenberg
Ocean research and observation activities are covering a wide range of interests,
sectors, users and uses, disciplines, transfer of technology, skills and technology
development, industrial developments and now biotechnology of potentially very
large significance. All of these activities are of great socio-economic relevance, and
the goal to ensure that benefits are shared in a fair way is one of the foundations of
UNCLOS. Observations of the ocean and coastal seas so far largely rest on the
scientific communities involving several disciplines and institutions. Nevertheless,
a gradual shift in the methods of observing the ocean is underway from exploration
to a more sustained nature with the aim to provide ocean services, possibly
eventually matching the meteorological weather services.
The statutory role of the IOC is to promote coordination and cooperation
in ocean research, services and capacity building. Since 1960 the number of
institutions and other organizations having the marine environment or parts thereof
in their sphere of interest has increased at least by an order of magnitude, probably
two. This is reflected in the number of marine scientists, research and education
institutions and significant infrastructure investments for ocean observations. These
show the move of ocean sciences from exploration by means of research vessels to
permanent establishments of large distributed facilities, as noted in Field
et al. (2002).
The diversity of interests including the fast growing development of ocean
economy, the fragmented, essentially sector-oriented management despite
UNCLOS, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda call for a
unifying proposal for mobilizing over a time period new government and industrial
resources in support of marine science, its applications and links to policy making,
sustained observations and services with related capacity development and technology transfer in order to meet the goal of sustainable ocean development. The
experiences from the International Decade for Ocean Exploration 1971–1980, and
the International Year of the Ocean 1998 show that they stimulated much support
for ocean-related activities at local, national and global level, in governments, the
public, civil society and scientific communities. The national governments were
willing to provide additional resources for research and infrastructure, while local
governments supported local awareness creating actions. These experiences are
very positive and support the idea of launching another ocean decade to address the
issues, priorities and uncertainties, and ensuring delivery of results in a timely
fashion to users, in particular Governments and concerned national Agencies.
It can be assumed that, at the global level, the UN system will continue to play a
central role in the protection of the world ocean and the management of the marine
resources, relying on: UNCLOS as the legal basis; major relevant programmes as
the substantive basis for action; structures of the UN system supporting the
programmes as the institutional basis for action. Some structural-institutional issues
need be addressed and resolved. These include arrangements for reviewing progress
and guiding the implementation of the Law of the Sea, chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the
542
G. Kullenberg