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AANCHOR

AANCHOR CSA

All Atlantic Cooperation for Ocean Research and Innovation

Following the signing of the Belém Statement between Brazil, the EU and South Africa, the European Commission funded another coordination and support action to support the implementation of the Belém’s Statements objective gives and proposed activities: the All AtlaNtic Cooperation for Ocean Research and innovation (AANChOR) CSA. The project was funded in 2018 under Horizon 2020. Its main responsibility was to implement the Belém Statement, co-signed by the European Union, South Africa and Brazil On Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Cooperation  for the South and Tropical Atlantic and Southern Ocean in 2017, establishing the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance and further growing the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Community.

In order to upscale research and innovation cooperation within the Atlantic basin, to better understand and sustainably manage the Atlantic Ocean as a whole, and to seed the basis for healthy future large-scale joint Atlantic marine activities, AANChOR had three main objectives:

  • Identify concrete joint actions to support the implementation of the EU-Brazil-South Africa Belém Statement
  • Contribute to the implementation of the selected joint actions
  • Define long term measures for sustainability of the cooperation framework beyond the lifetime of the CSA

The key thematic areas of the Belém Statement were:

  • Climate variability
  • Ocean Resources
  • Ocean Observation
  • Ocean Technology
  • Emerging Pollutants
  • Polar Research

All-Atlantic Ocean multi-stakeholder platforms

The All-Atlantic Ocean multi-stakeholder platforms were set up under AANChOR as central platform for experts from northern and southern Atlantic countries, including academia, industry, funding agencies and NGOs – to identify and co-design concrete joint activities. The platforms were organized thematically as follows: 

  • Capacity Development

  • Knowledge Transfer for Ocean Innovation and Economy

  • Common Standards for Data and Information Sharing

  • Ocean Citizen Awareness and Literacy and Convergence

  • Alignment of Research and Innovation infrastructure initiatives

All-Atlantic Joint actions supported by AANChOR

Six Joint Actions were co-created throughout the first half of AANChOR by each of the sub-multi-stakeholder platforms and were presented at the 3rd All-Atlantic Ocean Research Forum (2020). The six Joint Pilot Actions were created to support the implementation of the EU-Brazil-South Africa Belém Statement through an empowerment of the international cooperation framework between South Atlantic stakeholders. 

  • All-Atlantic Ocean Capacity Development and Training Platform

  • All-Atlantic Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform

  • All-Atlantic Marine Biotechnology Initiative

  • All-Atlantic Data Enterprise 2030

  • All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network

  • All-Atlantic Marine Research Infrastructure Network

AANChOR provided support to the Joint Pilot Actions either by providing seed funding for the implementation of the initial phases of the Joint Pilot Actions, or information on the possible tools and funding mechanisms for their long-term implementation. To know more about the Joint Pilot Actions, visit the dedicated Legacy section.

All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors Programme

AANChOR also supported the All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors Programme (AAOYA) from 2018 to 2022, and organized the 2022 Summer School, which took place back to back with the 5th All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Forum in Washington D.C., where the All-Atlantic Declaration was signed. To know more about the AAOYA programme, visit the ECOPs page.

Coordination

Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)

Start

October 1, 2018

End

August 31, 2023

Countries involved

Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Cabo Verde and Argentina

The consortium behind AANChOR includes 18 partners from various European countries plus Brazil, South Africa, Cabo Verde and Argentina.