The EU recognizes the urgency to implement transformative action towards more sustainable management of the ocean in line with SDG 14 ‘Life Below Water’ of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
A key enabling factor to achieve this is missing in the ocean arena despite the recent advances in reshaping ocean governance through the UN High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) and the Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Ocean science, data and information is not being transmitted to decision-makers effectively enough or regularly enough in a format that optimally serves evidence-based policies, in contrast with the more effective science-policy processes for climate and biodiversity.