ICSU participation in this week’s UN Ocean Conference

ICSU is convening two side events at the Ocean Conference in New York from 5-9 June, as well as facilitating scientist participation in the conference. It is also partnering with Future Earth, which will launch its Ocean Knowledge-Action Network during the week.

Another key focus of ICSU’s activities is to highlight its new report on Interactions across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be presented during a dedicated side event and at the event “Oceans in the 2030 Agenda: The role of Regional Governance” at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN.

Interconnections among the SDGs as a force multiplier for implementation of SDG14

5 June 2017 – 09:00-10:30 (Conference Room B in the UN Conference Building)

Synergies, trade-offs, and co-benefits have implications for policy discussions on how to achieve progress on SDG14. Together with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Future Earth Ocean Knowledge Action Network, and the Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean” this side event aims to outline a framework for organising actions around ocean issues, particularly for less developed states. These interrelationships can be used as a tool for dialogue between policy and scientific communities working on ocean, with a particular focus on human health and well-being that can support local communities that rely on ocean ecosystems. This event will highlight the conclusions and recommendations of the newly launched ICSU report “A Guide to SDG Interactions: from Science to Implementation“.

Moderator: Wendy BROADGATE, (Global Hub Director Future Earth, Stockholm, Sweden)

• Speakers:
  Douglas McCAULEY (Assistant Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) Our Ocean, Our Fate
• Stefanie SCHMIDT (Senior Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany) A guide to SDG Interactions: From Science to Implementation SDG14-a case study
• David OBURA (Director, Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean, CORDIO East Africa, Kenya) SDGs for IOM – signposts for Integrated Ocean Management in the Northern Mozambique Channel and the Western Indian Ocean
• Leopoldo GERHARDINGER (Universidade da Região de Joinville) Healing Partnerships: Transdisciplinary Diagnostics for Global Ocean Stewardship

Hacking science for Ocean Literacy: What’s needed to fully implement SGD14?

9 June 2017 – 11:00-12:30 (Conference Room A in the UN Conference Building)

In this session jointly convened by the International Council for Science, Future Earth and the Earth Journalism Network/UC Berkeley and the New School’s Journalism & Design Programme, we will facilitate a dialogue between science and the media on why and how to improve ocean literacy. It will include a broad range of world leading communicators from TED and researchers with expertise in the challenges of communicating ocean health.

The panel will explore the following questions:

1. What does the latest research tell us about why ocean literacy and awareness of ocean health is so low? What do we know about trends in engaging with ocean health?
2. What do know from the latest research about the challenges and opportunities in communicating about ocean health?
3. What do we know from the media about the demand for storytelling and reporting on ocean health?
4. How can we leverage the potential of new technologies, design thinking and science fiction to drive new narratives on ocean futures?

Moderator:

Allison Lichter Joseph (Assistant Professor of Journalism and Design, The New School)

Speakers:

• Dr Amelia Greiner Safi (Senior Research Associate, Department of Communication and Faculty, Master of Public Health Program, Cornell University
• David Biello (TED Science Curator, Author of “The Unnatural World“)
• James Fahn (Executive Director, Earth Journalism Network. Lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism)
• Andrew Merrie (Sustainability Scientist, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University)

See also these blog posts around the conference:

• Focus on Interactions to Make the SDGs a Success: Our Key Messages for the Ocean Conference
• A Scientific Method for the SDGs
• Want to protect the oceans? Time to consider the wider world of development