The community and partners of the Ocean Decade are meeting in Barcelona at the worldwide conference by the United Nations to celebrate their achievements and set joint priorities and actions for the future of the Decade.

The Regional Science and Technology Fund (FRCT) is attending this global event as coordinator of the MSP-OR project, aimed at implementing Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) in the European Outermost Regions – the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and French Guiana.

This conference comes three years after the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) visioning ‘The science we need for the ocean we want’.

In addition to participating in the conference, the FRCT collaborated with other European institutions and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change of Brazil to organise a joint satellite event between the six EU projects – MSP-GREEN, REGINA-MSP, MSP-OR, ReMAP, eMSP-NBSR and MSP4BIO.

The event was attended by more than 50 stakeholders where the discussion centred on the concept of Climate-smart MSP aiming to address the science-to-policy interface to emphasize the essential role that multidisciplinary ocean research plays in marine planning and management, with a special focus on the climate change challenge.

Organised by Spain and co-organised with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO) from 10-12 April, the Decade of the Ocean Conference will provide a new basis for strengthening sustainable ocean management and boosting science-based innovation.