AA-MARINET developments presented at the United Nations
The twenty-second meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 6 to 10 June 2022.
The Informal Consultative Process was established by the General Assembly in 1999 in order to facilitate its annual review of developments in ocean affairs and the law of the sea. Annual meetings are held with a different topic of focus each year. The twenty-second meeting held this year focused its discussions on the theme “Ocean observing”.
Joao Vitorino from Instituto Hidrografico (Portugal) participated in the second segment of the discussion panel, held on the 8 June and entitled “International cooperation and coordination in advancing ocean observing and addressing related challenges”. Joao’s presentation to the delegations entitled “Citizen science and the engagement of non-scientific communities”, focused in particular on the potential key role of Citizen Science in contributing to the overall observational effort in coastal ocean areas and the articulation with coastal ocean observatories.
This was an opportunity to present to the delegations the developments presently ongoing in the framework of AA-MARINET initiative, an All-Atlantic Joint Pilot Action focusing on the implementation of a web portal to facilitate the articulation and development of synergies between the different actors involved in the observation of the Atlantic domain. A platform with the potential to boost the engagement of non-scientific communities, from the general public involved in Citizen Science activities to actors of the Blue Economy. The presentation to the delegates was followed by a session of questions where several important aspects of this subject were discussed.
