Oceans provides both living and non-living resources, feeds us, regulates weather and climate, generates oxygen that we breath, and offers social and economic goods and services, hence it is imperative to understand oceans for better management to conserve, safeguard and restore them, said Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) Secretary M. Ravichandran on Thursday.
Oceans give countless benefits and there are challenges as well, and the Centre’s ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ was conceived to deal with the full range of issues like climate change, food security, sustainable biodiversity, marine pollution, coastal resilience, hazards, etc., he told a gathering of scientists and researchers from across the globe at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), here.
Mr. Ravichandran pointed out that the next six years are going to be pivotal to understand, harness and protect the potential of oceans for the well-being of present and future generations. INCOIS has been designated as Decade Collaborative Centre (DCC) for Indian Ocean Region as endorsed by Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO under the framework of UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. The three-day event here is a prelude to the Ocean Decade Conference-2024 in Barcelona.
Institute director T. Srinivasa Kumar warned that humanity is running out of time to manage the oceans and wanted the conference to provide a strong platform to countries in the Indian Ocean region to discuss issues of regional nature, to network, collaborate and contribute to achieving UN Ocean Decade outcomes. About 300 scientists from 30 countries are participating in the meet.
