OARS, the UN-Endorsed Ocean Decade Programme From GOA-ON
The United Nations endorsed "Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability - Providing society with the observational and scientific evidence needed to sustainably identify, monitor, mitigate and adapt to ocean acidification; from local to global scales (OARS)" as an Ocean Decade Programme, as proposed by GOA-ON.
The OARS programme will build on the work of GOA-ON to foster the development of ocean acidification science, including the impacts on marine life and sustainability of marine ecosystems in estuarine, coastal, and open ocean environments. The programme will address the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 14.3.1 "Minimize and address the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA), including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels".
The OARS programme aims to provide systematic evidence of the impacts of ocean acidification on the sustainability of marine ecosystems, enhance ocean acidification capacity, increase observations of ocean chemistry changes, enhance the communication to policy makers and communities by providing the information needed to mitigate and adapt to ocean acidification, and to facilitate the development and evaluation of strategies to offset future impacts.
Please see our video for a quick introduction.
OARS Decade Action Outcomes
OARS presents seven outcomes for the decade to achieve the success we need to better address ocean acidification. Building on the success and lessons learned from the work of GOA-ON in supporting the ocean acidification community, OARS will expand to address broader community needs, such as improving understanding of interactions of OA with multiple ocean stressors and increasing engagement with specific regions, industry, and policy makers.
GOA-ON and its partners aim to achieve the following outcomes through OARS by 2030:
- The global science community will be equipped to provide the high quality, high quantity and high-resolution ocean acidification needed.
- Specific data and evidence needed for mitigation and adaptation strategies, from local to global, will be clearly identified and provided.
- Long-term ocean observing systems will be co-designed and implemented by scientists, funders and end-user partnerships.
- The risks and severity of ocean acidification impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems will be better understood and used to support the protection of marine life.
- Societally relevant predictions of the impacts of ocean acidification will be freely available.
- The public will be more ocean acidification literate, aware of its causes and impacts.
- Countries and regions will routinely include measures to reduce ocean acidification in their respective national legislation.
How Will OARS Achieve the Outcomes?
The OARS programme has convened "co-champions", chosen as experts and leaders in their fields, to lead the initial development of each outcome. Teams of 2-3 co-champions work together with a working group to define the strategies and priorities for the outcome. Following a theory of change approach, the working group is working to identify outputs, activities, inputs, and enablers.
Who Are the OARS Co-Champions and How Can I Get Involved?
Co-champions are supported by members of the GOA-ON Secretariat. To meet the people involved and to find a point of contact for the outcome, click here.
Why Is OARS Important? A Perspective From GOA-ON
The OARS programme will build on the work of GOA-ON to further develop the science of ocean acidification by enhancing ocean acidification capacity, increasing observations of ocean chemistry changes, identifying the impacts on marine ecosystems on local and global scales, and providing society and decision makers with the information needed to mitigate and adapt to ocean acidification.
"A major goal of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development is to build capacity to assure that the world truly has ocean science capability on a global scale. This matches the efforts of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) to date. The work proposed work in our programme, "Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS)" leverages GOA-ON's work, to enhance ocean acidification capacity building and to better connect these efforts to decision makers and society."
Jan Newton (co-chair GOA-ON)
"We are delighted that our proposal, Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS) has been formally recognized as a UN Ocean Decade programme. This new initiative will build on the great work of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) to help develop the science of ocean acidification still further, including observing changes in ocean chemistry, identifying the impacts on marine life and helping to support the sustainability of marine ecosystems. Through OARS, and with the continued support of GOA-ON, the scientific community will work effectively together to provide society and decision makers with the scientific evidence they need in order to sustainably monitor, mitigate and adapt to the threats of ocean acidification; from our local coasts and estuaries to the open oceans."
Steve Widdicombe (co-chair GOA-ON)
OARS Partners
Contact
Contact Point for OARS: Kirsten Isensee, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, k.isensee@unesco.org
