2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Case Study – Calls for ocean action: Australia's National Marine Plan within the context of international initiatives

The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Case Study "Calls for ocean action: Australia's National Marine Plan within the context of international initiatives". 
<strong><em>A PDF of the full Case Study, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "CASE STUDY 2021 – Calls for ocean action: Australia's National Marine Plan within the context of international initiatives"</em></strong>



DESCRIPTION OF THE CASE STUDY
Prior to the publication of the 2016 State of the Environment report, Australia’s science community came together collectively to develop a ten-year plan to be carried out over the period 2015-2025 with a focus on identifying the science needed for addressing the largest sustainability challenges to Australia’s marine estate, and prioritising investment in order to fulfil Australia’s blue economy’s potential – the National Marine Science Plan (NMSP; Treloar et al. 2016; see also the case study in the 2016 State of the Environment report, Evans et al. 2017).
A mid-term review of the NMSP has recently been completed and will be delivered in 2021, a year in which a number of relevant international initiatives are either launching or moving into implementation phases. These include the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development  (IOC-UNESCO 2020; Pendleton et al. 2020; Singh et al. 2021), the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (Young and Schwartz 2019; Fischer et al. 2020) and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (HLP 2020), all of which Australia has approved (via engagement in the relevant UN commissions and programs) or is directly engaged in with partner countries. These initiatives all recognise the life supporting role of the ocean and the need for action to ensure continued provision of the essential services the ocean provides to humanity. All recognise that transformations that provide solutions for the sustainable management of the ocean within national jurisdictions and safeguard areas beyond national jurisdiction are required to achieve this. 
Australia’s science community has the opportunity to align efforts and focus the implementation of the original recommendations of the NMSP and the emerging priorities identified in its mid-term review through these international initiatives. Many of the objectives set out under the UN Decades align directly with the recommendations of the NMSP and the commitments set out by the High Level Panel, particularly those focused on increasing understanding of ocean state and changes occurring in marine systems, reducing and responding to the impacts of climate change, ensuring sustainable management of Australia’s marine estate, supporting environmentally sustainable industries and enabling nature-based solutions to coastal development. A coordinated approach to providing the science to support decision making is central to the NMSP and is critical if Australia is to effectively contribute to the UN Decades and meet the commitments it has set itself under the High Level Panel. The National Marine Science Committee through its membership is well placed to drive the collaboration and coordination across disciplinary, sectoral and jurisdictional boundaries needed. The success of the UN Decades and the High Level Panel in achieving the transformation in ocean science that is needed to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda, the associated Sustainable Development Goals and a sustainable future ocean economy will depend on the joint efforts of researchers, engineers, and scholars from all disciplines working in close collaboration with stakeholders from all sectors of the community.  

DATA STREAM(S) USED IN CASE STUDY
Synthesis of literature published and expert knowledge of the case study author.

Tags: National Marine Plan, case study, state of the environment (SoE)
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network