Marine

The Wider Picture – OCSAM Goes Stateside!

February 27, 2019 by Marine Directorate Communications No Comments | Category Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Uncategorized

Dr Colin Moffat, Chief Scientific Officer Marine (OCSAM), recently visited the United Nations in New York. Here he talks about what he was doing there:

“There is little doubt about the criticality of sound evidence to ensure that our decisions are appropriate.  In Scotland we have a reasonable volume of data and information for some of our marine components, but others remain data limited. However, globally there are greater gaps. The interconnectivity of marine systems is such that there is a requirement to improve our ability to make assessments at a range of scales, from the single sea loch, to the Scottish Marine Region, to larger sea and ocean areas and, ultimately, global assessments.

This requires common frameworks, a known quality of data, the capacity to collect and analyse samples of sufficient number and geographic spread to provide appropriate information. As part of the United Nations (UN) Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects, there was a Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue and Capacity-Building Partnership Event at the UN Headquarters in New York in January 2019. There were many useful discussions around stakeholder literacy, the policy/science interface, assessment methodology and the capacity gaps.

Globally there is an increasing understanding of the impact that humans are having on the marine environment. Some of the impacts are very local while others, including the warming of our seas and ocean acidification, are global with impacts also occurring at a distance from the source. This is the case for marine litter. Hopefully, the outcomes of the capacity building workshop will provide the basis for identifying some of the priorities for the UN Decade of Ocean Science 2021-2030. The UK’s direct contribution to the Decade will be discussed at the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) Association meeting in London on 9 May 2019.”

Further Information

• OCSAM Twitter feed
• United Nations (UN) Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment

Tags: global assessments, marine environment, marine litter, United Nations

Comments