UNOC3 Side Event launches strategic partnership for Ocean Research and Capacity Building
A significant step forward in international marine science cooperation was achieved on June 12 as Portuguese-speaking African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) committed to establishing Centers of Excellence in Marine Sciences. The initiative, presented during the official UNOC3 side event “Strengthening Marine Science and Capacity Building through the Establishment of Centers of Excellence in Portuguese-Speaking African SIDS,” was led by Cabo Verde’s Ministry of the Sea and Instituto do Mar (IMar) with support from the AIR Centre.
The comprehensive partnership brings together four island nations—Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste—alongside UNESCO’s SIDS Section and Germany’s GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The collaboration aims to leverage existing scientific knowledge, regional infrastructure, and international cooperation to address critical oceanic challenges facing these vulnerable island communities.
The session gathered distinguished participation from key government officials and scientific leaders, underscoring the initiative’s strategic importance. Ministers from three African nations participated: H.E. Jorge Santos, Minister of Sea of Cabo Verde; H.E. Nilda Borges da Mata, Minister of Environment, Youth, Sustainable Tourism of São Tomé and Príncipe; and H.E. Viriato Soares Cassamá, Minister of Environment, Biodiversity, and Climate Action of Guinea-Bissau.
International organizations were represented by Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission (IOC) and Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, and Professor Dr. Katja Matthes, Director of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The AIR Centre’s Executive Director Miguel Miranda and Yara Rodrigues, Board Member of Instituto do Mar – IMar (Cabo Verde), also participated in the discussions.
The initiative focuses on five strategic areas critical to building sustainable marine science capacity: strategic partnerships for blue science and innovation, youth capacity building with a dedicated focus on gender equality, evidence-based decision making for marine management, enhanced access to marine data and technologies, and fostering community innovation alongside regional cooperation.
The Centers of Excellence are designed to empower these communities with the knowledge, tools, and expertise needed to protect their marine environments while developing sustainable blue economies.
This represents a significant milestone in South-South cooperation, combining regional expertise with international scientific support to address some of the most pressing oceanic challenges facing island nations in the Atlantic and beyond.
Oceans in the solar system
On August 19, we held our second Roundtable on Current Issues. This session, entitled “Oceans in the Solar System: exploring the origin of life and habitability of water bodies on Mars, Europa and Earth”, discussed the evidence for water bodies outside the Earth, and their implications for the origins of life and planetary habitability. Our first speaker was Dr. Timothy Goudge from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin and the UT Center for Planetary Systems Habitability (CPSH). He reviewed the current geologic and geochemical clues that point towards a Martian surface that may have been entirely covered by rivers, lakes, and oceans. He will also discussed our next steps forward in planetary exploration, namely the scientific goals of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which will explore an ancient water body. Dr. Krista Soderlund, also from UT Austin and UT CPSH, journeyed us further into the depths of the Solar System to explore the present-day possibility of oceans in Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons. Her work comprises planetary fluid dynamics and geophysical numerical simulations, and will play a key part in the upcoming NASA Europa Mission. Lastly, Dr. Mary Voytek, Director of the NASA Astrobiology Program, focused on the possibility of life in the exciting habitats outlined by Dr. Goudge and Dr. Soderlund.
Summer@LSTS 2020 – Class #2 with Carlos Barrera (PLOCAN)
Summer@LSTS 2020 – Course on Introduction to Marine Robotics with applications to ocean observation, underwater archeology and ecosystems mapping – continued on August 14th, 2020, 10:30-11:30 AM UTC, with Carlos Barrera, who presented PLOCAN: A dedicated infrastructure for autonomous ocean-vehicles base. Carlos Barrera is the Head of the Ocean Vehicles Unit (VIMAS) at PLOCAN since 2009. He is responsible for the technical and operational tasks and time-shared desk activities related to R&D project coordination, ocean governance initiatives and services management. Carlos holds a degree in Oceanography (1998) by University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). He has twenty five years-experience in marine technology with focus on autonomous ocean observing platforms, over a five-hundred field operations on research vessels, sixty international research projects joined, eighty international publications and two patents related to ocean observing systems.
Summer@LSTS 2020 – Session #1 with Kanna Rajan (LSTS FEUP)
Summer@LSTS 2020 started on August 7th, 2020, 2:00-3:30 PM UTC, with Kanna Rajan, who presented Explorations in AI for Maritime Robotics. Kanna Rajan is a Visiting Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Univ. of Porto affiliated with the Underwater Systems Technology Lab. He was the Principal Researcher in Autonomy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (http://www.mbari.org) a privately funded non-profit Oceanographic institute which he joined in October 2005. Prior to that he was a Senior Research Scientist for the Autonomous Systems and Robotics Area at NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, California.