Commemorating the arrival of the large sailing vessel Statsraad Lehmkuhl at its first port of call in Asia

On September 14, 2022, the Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF) hosted an online event entitled “The First Port Call of the ‘Statsraad Lehmkuhl’ in Asia and the ‘UN Decade of Ocean Science’: What We Must Do to Correct the Knowledge Divide in Ocean Science” (the 191st Ocean Forum).
 
Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a Norwegian tall ship, landed at Yokohama on September 12, 2022. This was the first port of call in Asia on its “One Ocean Expedition,” a voyage around the world to study the effects of global climate change and ocean pollution. To commemorate this visit, OPRI invited guests including Dr. Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), which advocates and promotes the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UN Decade of Ocean Science), and Dr. François Houllier, Président Directeur Général of Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), which leads France’s ocean science and policy, to discuss the current status of the UN Decade of Ocean Science and issues for the future.
 
*A related public event was held the day before the forum. Read the event article here for details.
 
At the start of the discussion, OPRI President Hide Sakaguchi gave opening remarks and described the goal of the UN Decade of Ocean Science as “to explore all of the ocean, much of which remains unknown.” He also noted that “if we don’t know where, what, and how things are going on, we can’t do anything. Ten years seems to be very long, but in fact almost two years have passed. It is becoming increasingly important just how much we can achieve over the next eight.”
 
Next, the event featured addresses from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway, H.E. Inga M. W. Nyhamar, and the Republic of Palau’s ambassador to Japan, H.E Peter Adelbai. Ambassador Nyhamar remarked on the significance of this visit by Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the first port of call in Asia on its voyage around the world. She also emphasized the importance of closing knowledge gaps in science and technology to achieve the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science. Ambassador Adelbai touched on the role played by both Norway and Palau as co-chairs of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, and expressed his hope that the Statsraad Lehmkuhl study and this event would contribute to the spread of knowledge on the ocean and its conservation.

The UN Decade of Ocean Science began in January 2021. This initiative was declared at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in 2017, based on the vision of “the science we need for the ocean we want.” During the 10 years until 2030, international efforts are being made to study the ocean, much of which remains a mystery, focused especially on achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water).

Executive Secretary Ryabinin of IOC-UNESCO, which promotes the UN Decade of Ocean Science, summed up the current situation in one sentence: “Humankind is running out of time to start managing the ocean sustainably.” Looking back over the first two years of the decade, he referred to the increasing amount of work required in ocean science. As an example, he outlined 43 related programs undertaken by IOC-UNESCO. In addition to initiatives to raise the status of women in ocean science, he highlighted advances in network-building by Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP), in which OPRI participates as a key member in Asia.
 
Dr. Ryabinin also explained how various countries, including the U.S. and India, are increasing their investment in ocean science and advocated the need for it to be “not just the science for curiosity, [but also] the science that will help us to live sustainably.” In particular, he argued that science must be linked to the ocean economy and openly shared. To conclude, he emphasized the importance of ethical and fair science, saying that “this is the vision of a new science that will guide us to live in harmony with the ocean.”

Next, Président Directeur Général Houllier of IFREMER described the contribution of IFREMER to the UN Decade of Ocean Science. IFREMER and its sister organizations, under the sponsorship of the French government, are implementing research programs related to the ocean and climate from 2021 to 2027. Dr. Houllier introduced several examples of these projects, including the One Ocean Network for Deep Observation project to construct networks to observe the ocean floor and water columns, implemented with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and ocean research agencies from Canada and elsewhere.
 
He also described Ocean Spy, a project where members of the public, researchers, students, and schools analyze deep ocean data and images, providing the public with opportunities to learn about deep ocean environments with which they usually have no contact. He described how activities such as annotating images captured by deep ocean observatories enable people to gain a deeper understanding of the deep ocean and promote collaboration between scientists and the public, what he called the positive side of “citizen science.” This also provides opportunities for scientists to collect new information.
 
In addition, he introduced the Floating University program, where ocean science students with backgrounds in a wide range of academic disciplines including the arts, communication, and marine logistics, live together on a research boat with a multinational group of experts. This, he argued, contributes to filling the gaps in knowledge, a goal of the UN Decade of Ocean Science. In conclusion, he explained: “I perceive the UN Decade of Ocean Science as both a duty and an opportunity. We must share knowledge, not just within the scientific community, but more broadly with the public. Sharing knowledge will enable us to involve more people in new projects, leading to new opportunities.”

The next session featured presentations by members of the team that traveled from Palau to Yokohama on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. OPRI invited six young people to join the team and supported their passage from Koror City in Palau to Yokohama.

Next, Mr. Steven Victor, Palau’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, and Dr. Aoi Sugimoto, a research fellow at the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA), commented on the presentations from their respective standpoints. Minister Victor emphasized the need for all countries to work together by engaging in global issues under the concept of a single ocean. He described the leadership taken by Palau in calling for a pause on mining minerals on the seabed without adequate scientific knowledge, then went on to point out “our responsibility, when considering how to use the ocean for the people of Palau, to use the applicable science and make appropriate decisions going forward.” He expressed his hope that similar opportunities would continue to be provided for young people thanks to the efforts of the youth group demonstrated at this event.
 
Dr. Sugimoto, an environmental social scientist who has been conducting research in Okinawa over the past decade, noted that when discussing the scientific knowledge gap, it is “not clear as to who exactly is the target and with whom.” She expressed her concerns that this has led to a widening knowledge gap between ocean scientists and the general public, and that ocean issues may not be well understood by those not directly involved. She also pointed out the need for further efforts to fill this knowledge gap in the future.

Professor Naomi Harada of the University of Tokyo focused on the differences between the International Decade of Ocean Exploration held 50 years ago and the current UN Decade of Ocean Science. She pointed out that the former was an academia-led initiative mainly aimed at strengthening the utilization of the ocean for the sake of human society and lacked a perspective on sustainable development. Looking ahead, she highlighted six priorities for achieving the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science: “ocean big data” (utilizing big data in the ocean field); marine waste; developing island nations; disaster prevention; illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and ocean education. She asserted the importance of the promotion of issues by researchers in Japan, and coordination and international contribution with stakeholders outside the academic sector.