Beneath the Surface of the First World Ocean Assessment: An Investigation Into the Global Process’ Support for Sustainable Development

Transferring Complex Scientific Knowledge to Useable Products for Society: The Role of the Global Integrated Ocean Assessment and Challenges in the Effective Delivery of Ocean Knowledge

“…An outcome of unbalanced contributions to writing teams is that chapters have varied in their scope, the degree to which they have covered the diverse range of topics and the extent to which complex scientific information was integrated across disciplines and delivered. This has led to varying perceptions of overall legitimacy and credibility amongst the ocean community (Fawkes and Cummins 2019). While similar variable contributions were noted in the first IPCC assessment (Siebenhüner, 2002;Hirst, 2014), other assessments such as IPBES have largely been successful in developing multi-disciplinary teams (Beck et al, 2014), particularly when well resourced.…”

“…Important outputs from the first cycle included three technical abstracts that distilled the content of the first assessment into useable information focused around climate change, biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), in particular, SDG 14 Life Below Water. The content of the first assessment itself and the series of technical abstracts raised the profile of the declining state of the ocean both within the UN and beyond and is recognized as informing action on SDG14 (Fawkes and Cummins 2019). This first assessment has been recognized as informing the development of a proposal to the UN General Assembly by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (an "ocean decade").…”

“…Early assessments of the reach of the first world ocean assessment have identified that its' content has primarily been used for coastal and marine research, academic purposes, including input into curricula, policy development and awareness raising activities (Fawkes and Cummins 2019). Further, the workshops conducted as part of the first cycle have been identified as facilitating connections and collaborations between ocean disciplines (Fawkes and Cummins 2019). Information from the first World Ocean Assessment has been summarized across many media platforms and features on the websites of UN agencies (e.g.…”

“…The Regular Process, having just launched its second World Ocean Assessment, can still be regarded as a relatively new undertaking, particularly when compared to other global assessments such as those produced by the IPCC, established in 1988 [see Agrawala (1998)] and in the process of producing its sixth assessment report. The Regular Process has been constrained by many of the challenges faced by the IPCC across its first two assessments, including budgetary limitations (there was no specific budget assigned to the Regular Process in its first cycle), insufficient mechanisms for facilitating the assessment, differing levels of disciplinary and regional coverage and cohesion across chapters, and varying levels of community awareness and credibility (Agrawala 1998;Fawkes and Cummins 2019). As has been the case with the IPCC, there are lessons to be learned from both the first and second cycle of the Regular Process that can be used to further improve future assessments, particularly the contribution of the assessment to bridging the science policy interface and improving societal ocean awareness and understanding.…”

“…Utility of multiple electronic platforms for awareness raising and production of material in easily understandable and useable formats was lacking. This was largely a consequence of the limited resources available to the Regular Process that could be put towards not only making the assessment more broadly available but also communicating the assessment beyond the UN (Fawkes and Cummins 2019; see also https://undocs.org/A/70/418). There were clear gaps in outreach and awareness raising that were raised in the lessons learned identified in relation to the first assessment.…”