Launch of the Second World Ocean Assessment
On 21 April, the United Nations released the Second World Ocean Assessment. This extensive assessment of over 500 pages describes the current state of our marine environment. A great achievement in connection with Earth Day, which is today. IHE Delft's Rosh Ranasinghe and Trang Minh Duong contributed to Chapter 13: changes in erosion and sedimentation.
The state of the marine environment
The Second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II) is the major output of the second cycle of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the States of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects. It is the newest outcome of the only integrated assessment of the world’s ocean at the global level covering environmental, economic and social aspects.
IHE Delft joined this initiative through the invitation of Tom Kompier from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water, with whom IHE Delft has a close collaboration. Rosh Ranasinghe: 'Contributing to the UN WOA II turned out to be a great opportunity to work together with a very large international team to put together this important report. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the World's Oceans, together with a future outlook'.
Trang Minh Duong contributed to observed and projected impacts of changes in fluvial sediment supply on inlet-interrupted coasts. Rosh Ranasinghe contributed to it's general framing, and specifically to observed and projected shoreline change along the world's sandy coasts.
The first World Ocean Assessment, which was released at the end of 2015, established a baseline for measuring the state of marine environment, including socioeconomic aspects. WOA II focuses on trends observed since the first edition and current gaps in knowledge and capacity.
WOA II is a collective effort of interdisciplinary writing teams made up of more than 300 experts, drawn from a pool of over 780 experts from around the world. It provides scientific information on the state of the marine environment in a comprehensive and integrated manner to support decisions and actions for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, in particular goal 14, as well as the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.