Co-designing the global ocean observing system for service delivery

Ocean data from systematic observations are the foundation for national, regional and global action. Ocean data underpins progress across many multilateral agreements including the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, United Nations agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, IMO, FAO, UNEP and the plastic treaty.

There is an urgent need for nations to strengthen and expand the global ocean observing system (GOOS) to build a sustained and sustainable critical ocean observing infrastructure, that delivers data at national, regional and global levels. Yet ocean observing networks and data systems are not recognized as critical infrastructure and often reliant on scientific research funding.

The strengthening and expansion of the global ocean observing system must be built from key advancements in and vision for ocean observing set in place by the Framework for Ocean Observing, the GOOS Strategy 2030, as well as more recently by the Ocean Decade Challenge 7 to Sustainably expand the Global Ocean Observing System.

We need to codesign the system and codeliver the services ensuring ocean observations as the raw ingredients for the value chain for, amongst other things, forecasting and early warning systems for multi-hazard risks, marine protection and safety, biodiversity positive resilient communities, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable ocean economy as well as understanding of the Earth system and indicators to inform decision making and policy.