Roundtable Discussion at the Parallel Forum on Blue Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of the Global Ocean Development Forum
On October 24, the 2024 Global Ocean Development Forum commenced grandly in Qingdao. In the afternoon, the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), the UN Ocean Decade Collaborative Center on Ocean-Climate Nexus and Coordination amongst Decade Implementing Partners in P.R. China (DCC-OCC) and Elsevier jointly organized the parallel forum namely “Dedicating to Blue Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Co-designing Ocean-based Solutions for Climate Change”. Chaired by Vladimir Ryabinin, former Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, government and multi-sector representatives from eight countries and international organizations engaged in in-depth discussions on the current status of climate change and marine disasters in their respective countries, major challenges, practices in disaster prevention and mitigation, and recommendations for future cooperation. The parallel forum was livestreamed globally by Elsevier, attracting over 4,000 participants online and offline.
Participants widely agreed that strengthening international cooperation is particularly crucial in addressing climate change. ZHANG Haiwen, former Director of the China Institute for Marine Affairs of MNR, pointed out that despite recent improvements in marine forecasting services and public engagement, there is an urgent need to enhance forecasting accuracy. She emphasized the importance of bolstering international cooperation and called for leveraging existing platforms such as DCC-OCC to establish a new mechanism for disaster prevention and mitigation in the Asia-Pacific region. Ibrahim Mimrah, Deputy Minister of Climate Change, Environment, and Energy of the Maldives, stressed that the ocean is a shared home for all humanity, and the key to blue disaster prevention and mitigation lies in continuously strengthening international ocean cooperation. He proposed establishing a new cooperation mechanism under the "Ocean Decade" framework to encourage more countries to participate and conduct more productive research on ocean and climate forecasting, thereby promoting resource sharing and enhancing disaster response capabilities.
Noriyala Miarizo, Regional Director-General of the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy of Madagascar, K. Arulananthan, Director-General of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency of Sri Lanka, David Gikungu, Director-General of the Kenya Meteorological Department, and Elly Tugiyanti, Director of the Institute of Research and Community Services of Jenderal Soedirman University, Indonesia and Ashok Adiceam, Deputy Special Envoy of the French President for the UN Ocean Conference, also delivered speeches. They shared the challenges and practices of marine disaster prevention and mitigation in their respective countries and actively called for international cooperation. They highlighted the need to accelerate the development and improvement of a global disaster warning system through data sharing and integration, increased investment in observation facilities, the development of new numerical models, and capacity building, collectively enhancing resilience to ocean and climate disasters. Director-General K. Arulananthan of Sri Lanka specifically mentioned that over the past decade, with assistance from China, particularly FIO, Sri Lanka has made significant progress in the content, breadth, and depth of ocean observation. He expressed hope for further deepening international ocean affairs cooperation under a more inclusive and open cooperation mechanism in the future.
Many representatives noted that the international community currently lacks a robust platform to effectively integrate the latest advancements in the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and forecasting. In his concluding remarks, Chair Vladimir Ryabinin summarized that forecasting capabilities, scientific technology, and capacity building are core to achieving ocean disaster prevention and mitigation, and a strong international cooperation platform will be key to integrating global resources and achieving seamless forecasting. He expressed hope that this co-design effort would lead to the creation of an effective international cooperation platform for ocean and climate forecasting and disaster prevention and mitigation, providing cross-regional and multi-level services to support global blue disaster prevention and mitigation. QIAO Fangli, Deputy Director General of FIO, expressed gratitude on behalf of the organizers to all guests and experts for their participation and support. He stated that to advance blue disaster prevention and mitigation and social sustainable development, global stakeholders must collaborate to design a new international cooperation mechanism to address blue disaster prevention and mitigation.
As climate change characterized by global warming intensifies, the complexity and urgency of blue disaster prevention and mitigation become increasingly prominent. At a time when global ocean science cooperation is entering a new phase, this discussion provided new ideas for creating an international platform for ocean science and technology cooperation. It played a significant role in building global consensus on ocean cooperation, inspiring global ocean actions, and pooling global forces for ocean development, which will undoubtedly promote ocean and climate disaster prevention and mitigation and social sustainable development.