Portraits of seafarers
Françoise Gaill is a biologist and oceanographer specializing in deep marine ecosystems and adaptation to extreme environments. Emeritus research director at the CNRS, Françoise Gaill participated in 1968 and for more than 10 years in the first French oceanographic expeditions in the North Atlantic. Specializing in the fauna of aquatic organisms, particularly marine invertebrates and isolated cells, Françoise Gaill collaborated, for 10 years, on missions to explore the ecosystems of…
Feasibility study for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS)
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…
Research sets sail for the ocean
Oceans, which cover 70% of the planet, are in peril. Global research is mobilising to study and rescue it, and the CNRS is on the front lines, with over 1,000 scientists and 50 laboratories involved. An overview of the actions underway and the major challenges ahead, from the coasts to the depths of the sea. While a vision of oceans as indestructible has prevailed until the present, their current transformation–both…
All at sea: Call for new body to bridge the science – policy divide and save the oceans
Protecting the oceans that cover 70% of the earth is not getting enough attention in climate change policy. Now, scientists are pushing for a dedicated international body to coordinate research and inform policymakers Alain Schuhl, deputy CEO for Science of the CNRS. Photo: Joachim Claudet / CNRS / Twitter An international initiative to establish a new body to protect the world’s oceans is taking shape, spearheaded by France’s National Centre for…
A step up for Ocean Sustainability in Brussels
The CNRS brought together scientific institutions from across the globe for an exceptional conference to strengthen the position of the International Panel for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS) within global ocean governance. “Today it is urgent to organize the global scientific community in support of a sustainable ocean.” Those were the words with which Alain Schuhl, Chief Scientific Officer of the CNRS, opened a conference in Brussels focusing on the International Panel for…
Towards an Inclusive and Equitable Panel for Global Ocean Sustainability
Ocean momentum continues with ongoing steps to build an inclusive and equitable International or Intergovernmental Panel for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS). With a clear mandate for sustainability, the IPOS aims to ensure fair and diverse representation in the co-construction of knowledge informing ocean decision-making processes for conservation and development. Global environmental assessments such as those undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem…
Bridging Shades of Blue in Barcelona
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development is a global initiative to change how we cocreate and share knowledge. We need to find new ways of creating self-organising, bottom-up learning and impact networks. Stakeholders, researchers, funders, and facilitators need to be able to connect with each other. Experience, concerns, and potential solutions – many of which only reside in people’s heads – need to be shared fluidly, openly,…
Leading ocean experts propose a new International Panel for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS) to build consensus and inform policy
Leading ocean experts propose a new International Panel for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS) to build consensus and inform policy. This new international panel could translate ocean research into policy action. Story highlights The ocean science community has, so far, not been sufficiently well organized to provide coherent policy input on a global scale. The Intergovernmental panels on climate (IPCC) and biodiversity (IPBES) have, however, demonstrated that it is possible to find…