EU takes action
The EU & the Ocean value chain:   global mobilisation

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🗓️ Wednesday, June 11 | 15:00 - 18:45

🎤 Master of Ceremony: Henri Landes
  
This series of high-level sessions showcases the European Union’s leadership and strategic investments in marine observing systems, emphasizing their role in global cooperation, digital innovation, and ocean sustainability.

The program features a mix of technical presentations, roundtable discussions, and stakeholder mobilization moments, uniting key institutions from across Europe and international frameworks like GEO, GOOS, ESA, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Replays & Presentations
Replays & Presentations
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Speakers

TR

Thierry RANCHIN

EuroGEO
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In a nutshell

17:00 - 17:45

Call for action to advance ocean prediction capabilities for the benefits of society


Replays & Presentations
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European Marine contributions to GEO through GEO Blue Planet and EuroGEO

🕒 15:00–15:45

🧭 Organizer(s): GEO Blue Planet, A Hasson (ahasson@mercator-ocean.fr) EuroGEO, Thierry Ranchin Chairperson (Moderator): Pierre-Yves Le Traon (Mercator Ocean International) Speakers and Panellists: Sigi Gruber on behalf of Pavel Misiga (DG RTD) Yana Gevorgyan (GEO) Audrey Hasson (GEO Blue Planet / Mercator Ocean International) Thierry Ranchin (EuroGEO / Mines Paris Tech)
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is an international partnership that promotes coordinated, open Earth observation to inform policy and action. As GEO moves towards implementing its post-2025 Strategy, the focus is on strengthening Earth intelligence—the integration of observations, modelling, and data services to support informed, global decision-making. Within GEO, GEO Blue Planet serves as the ocean and coastal arm, promoting the use of marine data to support sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, and climate resilience. It has delivered notable successes in regional capacity-building, stakeholder engagement, and services such as the “Sargassum Information Hub”. 

 The European Commission (EC) plays a key role in supporting GEO’s marine activities through initiatives such as EuroGEO and the EU Office of GEO Blue Planet, funded under the Horizon Europe framework. Through programmes like Copernicus, which provides open-access ocean and coastal data, and the EU4OceanObs project implemented by Mercator Ocean International, the EU brings technical expertise and fosters international collaboration, directly contributing to GEO's marine and coastal agenda.

This event features a panel discussion exploring opportunities to enhance and expand ocean-related activities within GEO, in line with its post-2025 Strategy. The discussion highlights the critical role of Earth observation and modelling in strengthening the quality and impact of Earth intelligence services, and examines how coordinated European efforts can continue to support global goals through GEO

Yana Gevorgyan - GEO

Overview of Group on Earth Observations - GEO

Audrey Hasson - Mercator Ocean International

GEO Blue Planet and EuroGEO Marine Activities

PDF Presentation

Thierry Ranchin - Scientific Coordinator of Horizon Europe Project EuroGEOSec Mines Paris PSL

EuroGEO – A Regional initiative of GEO

PDF Presentation

All panel

Discussion - GEO

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Collaborating for Ocean Sustainability: The Space4Ocean Alliance

🕒 16:00–16:45

🧭 Moderated by Selma Cherchali (CNES)

The Space4Ocean Alliance (S4O), initiated by the French space agency, CNES, is an action-driven coalition aimed at connecting the space sector with marine and maritime actors to enhance ocean preservation, conservation, and protection efforts. Grounded in science and leveraging space data, in-situ measurements, and advanced digital models, the Alliance addresses critical ocean and coastal challenges, thus contributing to the achievement of global policy frameworks like the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 14.
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Call for action to advance ocean prediction capabilities for the benefits of society

🕒 17:00–17:45

🧭 Moderated by   Pierre-Yves Le TRAON   (Mercator Ocean International)

This high-level event launches the Call for International Mobilization to advance ocean prediction capabilities in response to societal needs. The OceanPredict’24 Symposium “Advancing Ocean Prediction Science for Societal Benefits” marked a significant milestone in global ocean prediction science. Leveraging outcomes from the symposium and the activities of the relevant UN Decade programmes and the OceanPrediction Collaborative Center, this event emphasizes the urgent need to advance ocean prediction capabilities to sustainably manage the Ocean, protect marine biodiversity and support climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.

Aligned with the UN Ocean Decade priorities, the Call addresses the need to strengthen ocean observing, modeling, data assimilation, and digital technologies (including AI and digital twins). This high-level event offer is a pivotal opportunity to engage international stakeholders from IOC-UNESCO, GOOS, OceanPredict/ForeSea, Mercator Ocean International and the European Commission in collectively advancing ocean prediction science for societal benefit. 

Marie Drevillon - Mercator Ocean International on behalf of Fraser Davidson & Gregory Smith - Environment and Climate change Canada - ECCC

Building the ocean prediction of tomorrow

PDF Presentation

Craig Donlon - ESA & Emma Heslop - IOC-UNESCO

The role of space and in situ observations

PDF Presentation

Marie Drevillon - Mercator Ocean International

Presentation of the call for action

PDF Presentation

Panel discussion

International and European response to the call for action

Moderated by: Pierre-Yves Le Traon - Mercator Ocean International

Panel:
- Vidar Helgesen - Executive Secretary - IOC-UNESCO
- Pierre Bahurel - Director General - Mercator Ocean International
- Alessandra Cacciari - Programme Officer - DG DEFIS
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Our Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS)

EU Digital Ocean Pavillon, The Whale – UNOC3 Green Zone 
Co-organised by GEO Blue Planet and IAEA 
Wednesday 11 June - 18.00-18.45 
🕒 18:00–18:45

Marine plastic pollution is a growing global crisis, threatening ecosystems, economies, and human health. Advancing knowledge on marine debris pollution is a priority for assessments, setting evidence-based targets, and implementing and monitoring the impacts of actions.
Recognising the need for a globally coordinated and sustained marine debris observing system to close knowledge gaps and meet diverse stakeholder needs, the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS) aims to provide coordination, and guidance to enable the global marine debris community to establish a sustained global observing system and facilitating open access to data.
Initiated by the scientific community at OceanObs’19, IMDOS became at UNOC2 in 2022 a joint initiative of GOOS and GEO Blue Planet, supporting UNEP’s Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML). The first Steering Committee (SC) was then established in 2024 to guide IMDOS and develop its implementation plan.
To build on this momentum and reaffirm IMDOS’ pivotal role in supporting the global marine debris monitoring community, its Advisory and Sponsors Committee (ex-officio members of IMDOS SC) convened during this official side-event to UNOC3 to express their support towards IMDOS vision.
In line with IMDOS’ collaborative vision, the event also features a summary of the Blue Zone side event, “Combatting Marine Pollution, including Plastics, Through Innovative International Action”, led by the IAEA, an Advisory and Sponsor Committee member. Key takeaways highlights how global policies, innovation, international cooperation, and capacity building can drive progress towards a zero-pollution ocean.
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