Vision Statement

Inclusive Ocean Science for the Future of Our Blue Planet 

 

Guiding Position

The ocean is vital to life on Earth; so vital that we look for oceans as a sign of life on other planets. The ocean supports vast biological reserves and diversity, it is a major source of oxygen and freshwater while being a sustained sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxide. It stores most of the excess heat attributed to greenhouse gas emissions, and it is a major driver of weather and global climate. More than a third of the 8 billion humans on Earth live in coastal regions 1 where the ocean provides immense and diverse societal and economic value. Clean and productive seas are fundamental to the survival of many communities and cultures. The ocean inspires exploration, science, philosophy, and the arts, and it is the global arena for maritime security, commerce, and recreation.      

Alarmingly, we humans have diminished the ocean’s ability to provide its natural and societal benefits by causing climate change and pollution, and by practicing industrial-scale fishing and resource extraction 2. These pressures are triggering calamities and hazards, including ocean acidification and dying coral reefs, intense hurricanes and flooding linked to storm surge and sea-level rise, loss of sea ice, de-oxygenation, fish kills, and seafloor habitat destruction. Lower-income and marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted 3 and are left vulnerable by weak international governance 4 and a lack of mitigation resources. Decline in the ocean reduces resilience across all of Earth’s interconnected systems, undermining our prospects for healthy ecosystems, sustainable food provision, clean energy, and a stable climate 5. 

There is much still to learn about the ocean if we are to reverse its decline and slow global warming collectively without causing additional unintended harms 6.  Basic research in oceanography is filling the knowledge gaps, but the pace needs to be accelerated. The ocean is vast, with interconnected physical, chemical, geological and biological processes acting across all time and space scales, and it is coupled with the atmosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. Observations and process knowledge are lacking particularly in ice-covered oceans, at ocean margins, and in the deep sea. Cooperative marine management must expand and gain effectiveness to improve the state of the ocean and establish sustainability. We believe effective management is only made possible through open and extensive ocean research, universal and inclusive education, stakeholder input, and cultural knowledge sharing about the ocean. We face a challenging moment in human history – our shared future on the blue planet. 

 

Universal Ocean Education, and Ocean Science

To be good stewards of the ocean, people must feel connected to it! People of all nationalities, places, and livelihoods, would benefit profoundly from an education that includes knowledge of the ocean: its geography, geology, life forms and food webs, its circulation, chemistry, and connections to weather, climate and human history. One example of the reach of the ocean into human lives is El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Interannual temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific drive global precipitation patterns affecting fisheries, agriculture, transportation, commerce, and the patterns of weather-related disasters. 

For too long the ocean has been left out of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curricula. An Ocean Science education that begins at an early age broadens perspectives, conveys alternate career paths and informs new generations of how human activities affect ocean health. Such universal teaching would inspire new solutions needed to eliminate sources of pollution (e.g., agricultural runoff, plastics, electronics waste and noise), improve fishing methods (e.g., to reduce bycatch and seafloor disturbance), and draw on the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide and other green-house gasses with co-benefits to marine ecosystems. 

At the same time, educational and research institutions must remove the biases that alienate members of marginalized communities from pursuing careers in Ocean Sciences 7. We need a diversity of perspectives and identities to meet the challenge of sustainable stewardship of the ocean and to narrow the divide between nations/regions with high versus low income and resources. Broad representation is essential when translating science into mitigation and management policies, and to avoid unintended impacts on minority or disadvantaged stakeholders.

 

Transformative Actions Are Needed

Effective management of the ocean requires expanded ocean research and discovery. As wealthy nations disproportionally lay claim to ocean resources 8, devise fishing methods to target lower trophic levels, and dispute exclusive economic zones 9, the ocean processes that provide food, water, energy, and minerals, as well as the time needed for resource replenishment, must be well understood to guide evidence-based management, commercial stakeholders, and public opinion. 

We need sustained observations that span local community projects 10, in situ global observing programs 2, and advanced satellite technologies 11. We need detailed whole ocean habitat maps, improved ecosystem assessments, and forecasts that include the ocean and its coupling with other Earth systems. Numerical models supported by high performance computing, for example, need improvements in downscaling and data assimilation to capture current ocean conditions and predict future tipping points and states of the ocean. Chemical proxies within the marine sedimentary record and other marine archives can help validate those models by defining natural climate cycles and past environmental extremes. 

Ocean scientists must engage more closely with engineers, social scientists, decision makers, stakeholders, environmental justice advocates, educators, and other professionals to produce the knowledge and develop the partnerships required for effective ocean management and governance. Ocean policies and mitigation actions must halt damaging exploitation and instead balance the need to preserve and repair the ocean’s rich biodiversity with our requirements for sustainable harvesting, diversified commerce, and green energy production. Transdisciplinary working groups can more effectively translate research and understanding into policy and action, resulting in more practical, holistic, and widely endorsed solutions to improving ocean health. 

These approaches must be supported by open science and data practices that help integrate disciplinary knowledge and cultural knowledge systems, and by science communication efforts that inform the public about the central role the ocean plays in society. We must enable future generations, from countries across the world, to more effectively study, use, manage, and steward ocean resources.

 

Summary

The ocean is vital to our planet and full of wonders. Climate change, pollution and resource extraction have pushed the ocean into decline. The cumulative impacts, including sea-level rise, are already bringing devastation to coastal and island communities and marine ecosystems across the globe 12. Our shared future on the Blue Planet depends on our ability to grow a more inclusive ocean science community who are committed to open and interdisciplinary science, as well as transdisciplinary collaborations that can provide a richer understanding of the ocean and the mitigations needed to restore its health and build coastal resilience. Such a future requires bold and sustained national and international investments in research, education, and science infrastructure for the ocean. These investments are essential for new knowledge to underpin actions that sustain the ocean and all it holds. 

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Reference Materials

  1. Cosby, A.G., Lebakula, V., Smith, C.N., Wanik, D.W., Bergene, K., Rose, A.N., Swanson, D., and Bloom, D.E. 2024. Accelerating growth of human coastal populations at the global and continent levels: 2000–2018. Scientific Reports 14: 22489. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-73287-x

  2. IOC-UNESCO. 2024. State of the Ocean Report. Paris, IOC-UNESCO. (IOC Technical Series, 190). https://doi.org/10.25607/4wbg-

  3. Althor, G., Watsin, J.E.M., and Fuller, R.A. 2016. Global mismatch between greenhouse gas emission and the burden of climate change. Sci. Rep. 6, 20281; doi: 10.1038/srep20281.

  4. Levin, L.A., Amon, D.J., and Lily, H. 2020. Challenges to the sustainability of deep-seabed mining. Nature Sustainability 3: 784-794. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0558-x

  5. Halpern, B.S., Longo, C., et al. 2012. An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean. Nature 488: 615-620.  doi:10.1038/nature11397.

  6. National Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Research Strategy. 2024. A Report by the Fast Track Action Committee on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal of the Subcommittee on Ocean Science and technology, National Science and technology Council.

  7. Kappel, E.S., B.E. Cuker, C. Garza, D. Gibson, C. Martinez, W.F. Todd, and C. Xu. 2023. Introduction to the special issue on building diversity, equity, and inclusion in the ocean sciences. Oceanography 36(4):6–9, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2024.130

  8. McCauley, D.J., Jablonicky, C., Allison, E.H., Golden, C.D., Joyce, F.H., Mayorga, J., and Kroodsma, D. 2018. Wealthy countries dominate industrial fishing. Science Advances 4: eaau2161.

  9. Østhagen, A. 2020. Maritime boundary disputes: What they are and why do they matter? Marine Policy 120: 104118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104118 

  10. Jones, T., Parrish, J.K., et al. 2024. Marine bird mass mortality events as an indicator of the impacts of ocean warming. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 737:161-181. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14330

  11. Shutler, J.D., Gruber, N. et al. 2024. The increasing importance of satellite observations to assess the ocean carbon sink and ocean acidification. Earth-Science Reviews 250: 104682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104682

  12. IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, M. Tignor, E. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Nicolai, A. Okem, J. Petzold, B. Rama, N.M. Weyer (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157964.001

 

This statement was prepared and approved by the AGU Ocean Sciences Section Executive Committee in November 2024. Contributing authors: Reimers, C., Anderson, R., Arnosti, C., Beal, L., Bontempi, P., Dai, M., Daly, K., M., D’Hondt, S., Harris, C., Hofmann, E., Kollman, C., Millette, N., Murray, J., Puig, P., Sprintall, J., Vinogradova Shiffer, N., White, A.

 

Corresponding Author Contact:  clare.reimers@oregonstate.edu

View the pdf version of position statement here: AGU Ocean Sciences Position Statement 2024