UN Decade of Ocean Science and Engineering for Sustainable Development
Dr. Vladimir Ryabinin
Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO(IOC-UNESCO)
Abstract
The purpose of this presentation to UT23 is to offer to the ocean engineering community a possibility
to learn more about the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade)and to try to attract their ingenuity - the origin of the word “engineering” - to the new challenges andexciting opportunities associated with the Decade.
The Decade aims to achieve, by 2030, seven qualities of the ocean; to make it clean, healthy andresilient, productive, predicted, safe, accessible, inspiring and engaging. The main idea is to enable
science to observe and learn more about the ocean, qualitatively and quantitatively, and to findsolutions, as well as motivating factors to optimize our far-from-perfect human relations with the ocean
and to start managing the ocean in a much more sustainable way and with more fairness andharmony. More than 40 Decade programs, hundreds of Decade actions are underway now. The
arrangements for brainstorming and co-design are in place including a Decade Forum, enabling thedialogue within and between multiple communities of practice, and various expert groups, including on
data, private sector and on technology and innovation.
Marine engineering that can be understood as application of scientific knowledge to specific ocean
matters is at present not so actively engaged in the Ocean Decade. However, without design andproduction, or construction, of technical solutions and related infrastructure or software, the goals of
the Decade will not be achieved. The potential for marine engineering expansion, especially in thefuture, will be only growing in association with the Decade, because science-based ocean planningand management will create conditions for the development of sustainable ocean economy and its
subsequent manifestation in marine engineering applications, preserving the ocean while using it.
The marine engineering community is invited to learn more about the Ocean Decade, its goals, plans,current activities, and to start thinking of how the community can contribute to the Decade undertaking
and to benefit in terms of capitalizing on new conditions for progress in ocean science applications
created by the Decade.

Dr. Vladimir Ryabinin (Marine engineer, 1978; Ph.D., 1982; Doctor of Sciences, 1995) is the Executive
Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in the rank ofAssistant Director-General of UNESCO. His previous affiliations include the Hydrometcenter of Russia(as a researcher and head of a laboratory), the Moscow State University (as a lecturer), theInternational Ocean Institute (as an executive director), and the World Climate Research Programme(as a senior scientific officer at World Meteorological Organization - WMO).
Dr. Ryabinin is an oceanographer, marine engineer, and climatologist. His research has led to anumber of achievements in the numerical weather prediction on weekly time scale, marine
meteorological services, offshore engineering in polar areas, ocean and climate science. He has been
an author of hundreds of scientific publications and originator of several mathematical models for theocean, atmosphere, wind waves, etc.
Since early 1980s, Dr. Ryabinin has been involved in coordination of environmental activities of theUnited Nations. He has contributed to the core design of such international initiatives as the Global
Ocean Observing System, Joint Technical Commission of WMO and IOC for Oceanography andMarine Meteorology, International Polar Year 2007/2008, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for
Sustainable Development (2021-2030).