In this State of the Ocean Report 2024, the message
remains that observations and research is falling short
and hence there is a lack of adequate and aggregated
data. But as more states, industries and organizations
realize that we need to measure in order to manage and
protect marine ecosystems, we gradually get more data,
get deeper into the issues, and can include new topics of
research.
Every indication is, however, that the ocean crisis is
developing faster than our knowledge of it. We therefore
need to accelerate the mobilization which is under way
in the UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable
Development 2021-2030. We need to transform ocean
science and our relationship to it. We need better
knowledge as a basis for sustainable ocean planning
and management, within and beyond areas of national
jurisdiction. And we need a much stronger, much faster
and more dynamic interplay between ocean knowledge,
policy and action.