Cross-Cutting Themes
for U.S. Contributions to
the UN Ocean Decade
Committee on Cross-Cutting Themes for U.S.
Contributions to the Ocean Decade
Ocean Studies Board
Division on Earth and Life Studies
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-27311-4
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Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26363
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Cross-Cutting Themes for U.S. Contributions to the UN Ocean Decade. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26363.
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COMMITTEE ON CROSS-CUTTING THEMES FOR U.S. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE OCEAN DECADE
LARRY A. MAYER (NAE), Chair, University of New Hampshire, Durham
MARK R. ABBOTT, Vice Chair, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
CAROL ARNOSTI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON, University of South Carolina, Columbia
ANJALI BOYD, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
ANNIE BRETT, Levin College of Law, University of Florida, Gainesville
THOMAS S. CHANCE, ASV Global, LLC (ret.), Broussard, Louisiana
DANIEL COSTA, University of California, Santa Cruz
JOHN R. DELANEY, University of Washington (ret.), Seattle
ANGEE DOERR, Oregon State University, Oregon Sea Grant, Corvallis
SCOTT GLENN, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
PATRICK HEIMBACH, The University of Texas at Austin
MARCIA ISAKSON, The University of Texas at Austin
LEKELIA JENKINS, Arizona State University, Tempe
SANDRA KNIGHT, University of Maryland, College Park
NANCY KNOWLTON (NAS), Smithsonian Institution (ret.), Washington, District of Columbia
ANTHONY MacDONALD, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey
JACQUELINE McGLADE, University College London, United Kingdom
THOMAS J. MILLER, University of Maryland, Solomons
S. BRADLEY MORAN, University of Alaska Fairbanks
RUTH M. PERRY, Shell Exploration & Production Company, Houston, Texas
JAMES SANCHIRICO, University of California, Davis
MARK J. SPALDING, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, District of Columbia
LYNNE D. TALLEY, Scripps Oceanography, San Diego, California
ROBERT S. WINOKUR, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland
GRACE C. YOUNG, X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, Mountain View, California
Staff
SUSAN ROBERTS, Director
VANESSA CONSTANT, Associate Program Officer
SHELLY-ANN FREELAND, Financial Business Partner (through January 2022)
THANH NGUYEN, Financial Business Partner
ELIZABETH COSTA, Senior Program Assistant
OCEAN STUDIES BOARD
CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON, Chair, University of South Carolina, Columbia
MARK R. ABBOTT, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
CAROL ARNOSTI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
LISA M. CAMPBELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
THOMAS S. CHANCE, ASV Global, LLC (ret.), Broussard, Louisiana
DANIEL COSTA, University of California, Santa Cruz
JOHN R. DELANEY, University of Washington (ret.), Seattle
SCOTT GLENN, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
PATRICK HEIMBACH, The University of Texas at Austin
MARCIA ISAKSON, The University of Texas at Austin
LEKELIA JENKINS, Arizona State University, Tempe
NANCY KNOWLTON (NAS), Smithsonian Institution (ret.), Washington, District of Columbia
ANTHONY MacDONALD, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey
THOMAS J. MILLER, University of Maryland, Solomons
S. BRADLEY MORAN, University of Alaska Fairbanks
RUTH M. PERRY, Shell Exploration & Production Company, Houston, Texas
JAMES SANCHIRICO, University of California, Davis
MARK J. SPALDING, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, District of Columbia
ROBERT S. WINOKUR, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland
Staff
SUSAN ROBERTS, Director
STACEE KARRAS, Senior Program Officer
KELLY OSKVIG, Senior Program Officer
EMILY TWIGG, Senior Program Officer
ALEXANDRA SKRIVANEK, Associate Program Officer (through February 2022)
VANESSA CONSTANT, Associate Program Officer
SHELLY-ANN FREELAND, Financial Business Partner (through January 2022)
THANH NGUYEN, Financial Business Partner
KENZA SIDI-ALI-CHERIF, Senior Program Assistant (through March 2022)
ELIZABETH COSTA, Senior Program Assistant
GRACE CALLAHAN, Program Assistant
Preface
The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030 (UN Ocean Decade) provides a pathway to support and implement a globally coordinated scientific effort to develop solutions for ensuring the health and sustainability of our life-sustaining oceans. For many who have devoted their lives to the study of the ocean, the UN Ocean Decade is an opportunity to highlight the critical importance of the oceans to the long-term well-being of humankind. The UN Ocean Decade’s Implementation Plan (which benefited tremendously from the input of U.S. Executive Planning Group representatives—Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Margaret Leinen, Craig McLean, and Linwood Pendleton) describes outcomes that, if achieved, would ensure that we have “the ocean we need for the future we want.” The challenge to the global community is to define and execute the science needed to make these outcomes a reality.
While the UN Ocean Decade provides overarching guidance, much of the work and particularly the funding for UN Ocean Decade efforts will happen on a national or regional level. Recognizing the fundamental importance of healthy and sustainable oceans to the United States and the historic leadership role that the United States has played in ocean sciences, Craig McLean, Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Acting Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, led the effort to promote UN Ocean Decade activities both within the federal government and through the establishment of the nongovernmental, U.S. National Committee for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (U.S. National Committee), hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
The U.S. National Committee and the nation owe Craig a tremendous debt for his inspirational and tireless efforts to support the concepts and principles of the UN Ocean Decade and particularly the role that the United States can play in it. His challenge to the U.S. National Committee—to inspire the U.S. community to develop audacious and transformative science in support of the UN Ocean Decade—led then U.S. National Committee vice-chair Rick Spinrad to propose the concept of “Ocean-Shots.” The tremendous response to the call for Ocean-Shots clearly demonstrated the creativity, breadth, and capacity of the U.S. community and set the framework for this report.
In October 2021, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, called on the National Academies to produce this consensus report and recommend several cross-cutting themes based on the Ocean-Shots and complemented by U.S. ocean science priorities and UN Ocean Decade outcomes. This led to frenetic activity on the part of the consensus committee, the Committee on Cross-Cutting Themes for U.S. Contributions to the Ocean Decade, which was made more difficult by the inability to meet in person. The committee’s hard work and thoughtful input helped us meet very short deadlines. Most importantly, credit must be given to Ocean Studies Board director Susan Roberts and associate program officer Vanessa Constant who, with the excellent assistance of senior program assistant Elizabeth Costa, worked tirelessly to put together a coherent report.
The recommendations of this report offer what we believe to be a bold plan for the future of ocean science in support of sustainable development. The suggested themes offer frameworks for developing solutions to critical issues of ocean health and global well-being, while also defining new and more inclusive ways of doing ocean science. At this point, however, they are only frameworks. Whether they grow into fully defined research programs that will lead to the “ocean we need for the future we want” will depend on the response of those to whom this report is submitted. With leadership from the federal agencies, in conjunction with international efforts and contributions from other sectors, the research community will provide the science necessary to achieve a sustainable ocean.
Larry A. Mayer, Chair
Committee on Cross-Cutting Themes for
U.S. Contributions to the Ocean Decade
Acknowledgments
The committee would like to thank Tom Drake, Jane Lubchenco, Craig McLean, and Terry Quinn for their presentations at the November 12, 2021, meeting of the U.S. National Committee for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In addition, the committee would like to acknowledge the thoughtful responses received during the posting of the draft themes for public comment. These contributions informed the committee’s revisions of the themes as presented in the report.
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Reviewers
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed as a draft by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations
of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by ROBERT DUCE, Texas A&M University, and BONNIE McCAY, Rutgers University (ret.). They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
