In honour of the United Nations World Oceans Day, celebrated each year on 8 June, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) will organize a full day dedicated to the ocean and its link to the climate system. This event will lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21).
With the help of scientific workshops, plenary sessions, and exhibitions, this day will bring together scientists, political decision-makers, civil society and youth to identify, through dialogue, promising ocean-sensitive actions and strategies to mitigate climate change and its socioeconomic impacts.
Ocean acidification will be largely addressed within the framework of the morning workshop entitled “Warming and acidification of the ocean: two sides of the same coin”. This workshop will encourage societies around the world to limit the source of ocean acidification (CO2 emissions), to reduce its impacts and to protect coastal environments. The list of speakers will be announced shortly on the website. In addition, a keynote presentation on ocean acidification will be delivered in the plenary session in the afternoon.
At the end of the day joint action-oriented recommendations will be presented to the heads of state and United Nations representatives present on this occasion, including His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development and high representatives of small island states, namely Tommy Remengesau, President of Palau. The messages will underline the ocean’s essential role for the survival of our planet and how climate change is threatening this role, with potentially disastrous consequences.
