The All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance contributes to upscaling cooperation along and across the Atlantic Ocean by supporting the integration of new Partners in the Alliance and enhancing the visibility of activities focused on the Atlantic Ocean.
The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), known as the UN Ocean Decade, seeks to gather ocean stakeholders worldwide behind a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support countries in creating improved conditions for the sustainable management of the ocean. AAORIA’s objectives align closely with the goals of the UN Ocean Decade, which emphasizes the importance of scientific cooperation and innovation in achieving a clean and safe ocean, leaving no one behind.
The ongoing negotiations for a new global treaty on plastic pollution aim to address the entire lifecycle of plastics, from production to disposal. This treaty aligns with AAORIA’s commitment to reducing marine pollution and promoting sustainable ocean practices.
The BBNJ initiative focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This partnership is essential for protecting ocean biodiversity and it supports AAORIA’s goals by promoting international cooperation and governance.
Debuting under the Brazilian presidency of the G20 in 2024, Oceans20 comes as a natural offshoot of the efforts led by the previous cycles, spearheaded by Indonesia (2022) and India (2023). It plays a key role in giving civil society a voice in ocean discussions. By bringing together non-governmental organizations, private initiatives, indigenous peoples, traditional communities and scientists, O20 strengthens the presence of the ocean on global agendas. South Africa now holds the G20 Presidency.
The Atlantic Strategy, consistent with the EU 2020 agenda and its flagship initiatives, grouped the identified challenges and opportunities facing the Atlantic region under five main thematic headings. The EU’s 2013-2020 Atlantic Action Plan set out practical steps to be taken in the 4 Member States with Atlantic coasts (Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain) and their outermost regions in order to boost the Atlantic Ocean Area’s sustainable blue economy by 2020. The Atlantic Action Plan 2.0 includes four pillars which represent a practical way to make the common vision a reality. All pillars are integrally interconnected and transregional by nature and address key challenges and aim to foster sustainable blue growth and contribute to greater territorial cooperation and cohesion in the EU Atlantic area. The pillars focus on issues that one coastal region and one single State cannot solve alone or it is more efficient to act together and deliver on challenges that matter in the daily lives of people living in the coastal areas.
The research activities implemented as part of the Galway (2013) and Belém (2017) Statements and the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance cut across all pillars. They give an international dimension to the action plan and support its implementation by improving understanding of the changing Atlantic Ocean and its effects on coastal communities and by developing innovative solutions.
With a 2030 target, the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments. The Mission’s new approach addresses the ocean and waters as one coherent system and plays a key role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
Cross-cutting enabling actions are supporting its implementation, in particular broad public mobilisation and engagement and a digital ocean and water knowledge system, known as Digital Twin Ocean.
The Mission supports regional engagement and cooperation through area-based “lighthouses” in major sea/river basins: Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea. These Mission lighthouses are sites to pilot, demonstrate, develop and deploy the Mission activities across EU seas and river basins, and beyond.
The All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) has been implemented through many ongoing national initiatives and projects
This website is developed by the OKEANO CSA, a Coordination & Support Action supporting the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance and Declaration. It has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101158065.
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