Dr Niall McDonough mentioned the Okeano group is dedicated to empowering communities and responding to advanced local weather challenges throughout the Atlantic Ocean area.
A global group of organisations, together with Eire’s Marine Institute, has come collectively to help efforts to guard the Atlantic Ocean.
The Okeano Coordination and Assist Motion group contains representatives from 16 organisations throughout Eire, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cabo Verde, France, Germany, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
Okeano is funded by Horizon Europe to help the All-Atlantic Ocean Analysis and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA).
In July 2022, the EU joined the US, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Cabo Verde and Morocco in signing the AAORIA declaration, which goals to guard the Atlantic Ocean by way of the sharing of information, infrastructure and coordinated worldwide tasks.
Priorities of the AAORIA embrace rising our understanding of the connection between the ocean and local weather and the event of science to mitigate and adapt to local weather penalties, monitoring and defending marine ecosystems and biodiversity, tackling marine air pollution, and selling ocean literacy and engagement in ocean sciences.
The EU has described this alliance as “a real success” for worldwide efforts to guard the second largest sea basin on this planet.
The AAORIA builds on the 2017 Belém Assertion, which strengthened collaborative commitments between the EU, South Africa and Brazil to hyperlink analysis actions throughout the Atlantic Ocean area. Belém, in flip, was constructed on the Galway Assertion, an settlement made in 2013 between the EU, the US and Canada to higher shield the Atlantic area.
For the reason that Galway Assertion, the EU has invested €300m in additional than 40 tasks supporting greater than 1,000 researchers to sort out main ocean science points, together with easy methods to restore marine populations, shield coastal communities and make use of marine assets sustainably.
At a tenth anniversary celebration of the Galway Assertion final yr, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, TD, described it as a “key achievement” of Eire’s European Council presidency in 2013. “[The statement] is now a worldwide mannequin for science diplomacy and multilateral cooperation to sort out shared challenges,” he mentioned.
The roll of Okeano
Okeano will help the AAORIA by making certain efficient governance, cooperation and communication amongst alliance signatories. It goals to consolidate current initiatives and sort out socio-economic points within the Atlantic area, together with the local weather disaster, biodiversity loss, air pollution and ecosystem safety and restoration.
Okeano held its inaugural assembly in early March on the JPI Oceans Secretariat in Brussels. Right here, Okeano’s coordinator Dr Niall McDonough outlined the group’s work plan and emphasised its intention to help the AAORIA.
“By means of its vary of deliberate actions and powerful worldwide partnership, we’re dedicated to reaching and empowering communities throughout the whole lot of the Atlantic to answer the advanced challenges introduced by points similar to local weather change and ecosystem safety and restoration,” mentioned McDonough, who can be director of coverage, innovation and analysis companies on the Marine Institute.
Why do we’d like the AAORIA?
At greater than 106,400,000 sq km, the Atlantic Ocean covers roughly 20pc of the Earth’s floor and its North and South sections have distinct ocean currents that affect climate world wide. In current many years, the local weather disaster, air pollution and human exercise have broken the well being and biodiversity of the ocean ecosystem.
Scientists have warned that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), of which the Gulf Stream is part, is at risk of slowing down and even collapsing because of the melting of the polar ice caps.
Air pollution within the type of plastics, maritime transportation, mining and drilling, oil spills and ocean dumping (the direct discharge of pollution similar to sewage into the ocean) is a significant downside for the busy Atlantic area. Overfishing and unlawful fishing has depleted fish shares, leaving some species at risk of extinction, and creating hazards for marine animals. International heating has resulted in rising sea ranges, creating issues for coastal communities, and the rise in CO2 has led to elevated ocean acidification, which is dangerous to sea life.
Chatting with SiliconRepublic.com final yr, marine scientist and hydrographer with the Marine Institute Vera Quinlan defined the significance of analysis and sustainability initiatives to guard the Atlantic Ocean.
“Information of the ocean habitats and ecosystem is essential to each shield and profit from our ocean’s assets,” Quinlan mentioned. “Our future is tied explicitly to the well being of our oceans.”
Final yr, the Marine Institute launched photographs from a 20-year undertaking to map Eire’s coastal seabed, one of many largest seabed mapping programmes ever undertaken. The information from this complete survey is on the market for scientific, industrial and public use, and can assist to tell the administration of Eire’s marine setting.
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