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OCEAN GOVERNANCE | 99

FROM KNOWLEDGE…
Ocean knowledge is now one of the key issues at
stake in the fight against climate change and loss of
biodiversity. Several players in the workshop, inclu-
ding Mercator Ocean International and The Nature
Conservancy, are developing the concept of opera-
tional oceanography and are therefore questioning
the role of data at an international level. The speakers
presented how monitoring and predicting ocean va-
riables could serve to alert States on changes to the
marine and coastal environment.

Key issues raised during the discussions included the
decompartmentalization of science and the integra-
tion of subjects from local communities – an issue
taken up by the chief of the traditional Karelian village
of Selkie (Finland), Tero Mustonen. This researcher
and militant, a member of IPCC, upholds the impor-
tance of indigenous worldviews. The role of youth was
also brought to the fore by two young scientists giving
thought on how to “conceptualise ocean knowledge
which we need for the future”. Intergenerational jus-
tice is indeed a key point for IPOS.

… TO GOVERNANCE

The focal point of the future panel of experts for
the ocean is the desire to bridge the gap between
knowledge and action. According to the speakers of
this second working session, the role of IPOS should
be to share knowledge, mobilise civil society and ci-
tizens and to influence decision makers, whilst stren-
gthening ties between the scientific community and
policy makers. A debate opened by Louis Meuleman,
Vice-Chair of the UN Committee of Experts on Public
Administration, who presented the concept of ocean
“meta-governance”, and Andrei Polejack, oceanogra-
phic diplomacy researcher at the World Maritime Uni-
versity in Sweden, focused on current challenges as
far as ocean governance is concerned. These ques-
tions helped to better define the objectives of IPOS in
order to launch a feasibility study soon. This event is in
line with the strategy for action initiated last year, pre-
sented at the One Ocean Summit in Brest (February
2022), worked on during this Monaco Ocean Week,
with the aim of proposing the launch of an initial (or
several) international working groups at the United
Nations Conference in Lisbon (June 2022).