Ocean Science and Policy Nexus – UNOC 3 and Beyond | Events

Events

Ocean Science and Policy Nexus – UNOC 3 and Beyond
Special seminar with Dr. Peter B. de Menocal, President and Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Organizer：Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

The science-policy nexus for a sustainable ocean is one of the key topics for the upcoming 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) to be held in Nice, France, in June 2025. A wide range of issues will be discussed, including the impact of marine environmental changes and possible countermeasures, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation measures, and mobilization of funding for SDG14 and sustainable blue economy. Government leaders and stakeholder representatives will explore ways to strengthen international policy coordination and promote globally concerted actions toward achieving a sustainable ocean.

In this special seminar, Dr. Peter B. de Menocal, a leading expert in marine geology and paleoclimatology, and President and Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA, will discuss recent research activities at WHOI, key issues in marine science, and the critical interface between science, policy, and stakeholder actions. He will also share perspectives on such an interface, taking into account the process leading to UNOC3 and beyond. Other experts and researchers will also exchange views with Dr. de Menocal to strengthen this interface and share perspectives to enhance the effectiveness of research and policy efforts for a sustainable ocean.

*The seminar will be held only in English and in-person. Please note that there will NOT be a simultaneous interpretation or an online livestream.

Regarding registration

If you would like to participate, please apply from this page by 17:00 on Tuesday, April 15 (JST).

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*We will use your registration information for future invitations to seminars and lectures sponsored or supported by SPF.

Contact: Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Ocean Policy Research Institute
Email: kaiyoforum (@) spf.or.jp
Tel: +81-3-5157-5210

For media inquiries:
Public Relations Division, Planning and Coordination Department
Tel: +81-3-5157-5395
Email: spfpr (@) spf.or.jp

Program

13:00 JST	Opening remarks
13:05 JST	Keynote speech "Ocean Science and Policy Nexus – UNOC 3 and Beyond" by Peter B. de Menocal, President and Director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
13:40 JST	Panel discussion "Science-Policy-Society interface toward a sustainable ocean"
14:25 JST	Closing remarks

*The event program and speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Profile

Peter B. de Menocal is the eleventh president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. A marine geologist and paleoclimatologist, de Menocal’s research uses deep-sea ocean sediments as archives of how and why Earth’s ocean and climate have changed in the past in order to predict how they may change in the future.

Prior to assuming leadership of WHOI, de Menocal was the Thomas Alva Edison/Con Edison Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He served as Columbia’s Dean of Science for the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and founded Columbia’s Center for Climate & Life, a climate solutions research accelerator.

He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Fellow of the American
Geophysical Union, AGU Emiliani lecturer, a Columbia Lenfest Distinguished Faculty award, and a Distinguished Brooksian award. He earned a doctorate in geology from Columbia University and a master’s degree in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence University.

Opening Remarks

Mitsutaku Makino

Ocean policy Research Institute President/Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute （AORI), The University of Tokyo

Profile

Marine environment changes and their implications to fisheries and small island countries.

Profile

UN Ocean Decade in Japan and Early Career Ocean Professionals.

Panelist

Takehisa Yamakita

Senior Researcher, Marine Biodiversity and Environmental Assessment Research Center (BioEnv) ,Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

Profile

APMBON, Monitoring Site 1000, and JAMSTEC's monitor of biodiversity
(EOVs) and nessesity of private sector collaboration for a
nature-positive society

Panelist

Daisuke Hasegawa

Senior Scientist, Shiogama Field Station, Fisheries Resources Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA)

Profile

Current state of ocean monitoring and future plans for the Tohoku Pacific coast

Profile

How to integrate scientific knowledge for sustainable ocean and human well-being?

Apr. 16, 2025