Hope for an accessible ocean: Blue justice and ocean science diplomacy central to the outcome of the UN Decade of Ocean Science

Abstract

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, launched in 2021, aims to achieve seven societal outcomes, including equitable access to marine scientific data, knowledge, and technology. An accessible ocean can help to eradicate inequalities between the Global North and South, empowering countries with the necessary knowledge and means to make national and regional science-based policy and legal decisions. However, a true and sustained process towards an accessible ocean requires acknowledgement of the historical and systemic coloniality of power that limits access and capacities development for the Global South. Scientific contributions provide essential knowledge to ocean policy frameworks, but existing science diplomacy processes suffer from global disparities, establishing a critical need to promote environmental justice, equity, and fair transitions. Through the analysis of the distribution of authorship in major global expert-based documents and the language used in international documents, we identify that the Decade inadequately acknowledges the existing colonial legacy and exclusions perpetuated by it. We suggest that to achieve the Decade’s ultimate goals, as well as achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its interlinked Sustainable Development Goals, an urgent shift is required. Hence, we include recommendations to improve the state of play.