Meeting of the Group of Friends of Oceans and Sea (GoFOS) at the Permanent Mission of Monaco

The meeting of the Group of Friends of Oceans and Sea (GoFOS), held on 21 May 2019, was an opportunity for the Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO to present the preparations for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will begin in 2021.

This Decade will rest upon four pillars: a new ocean mapping, ocean observation, coordination and communication (at both regional and national levels), and societal objectives (coastal zone management, blue economy, food security, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation, governance).

The next meeting of the Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, in June 2019, which will be co-chaired by the Permanent Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago and Monaco, and the Second United Nations Conference to Support the achievement of SDG 14, which will be held in Lisbon in June 2020, with Portugal and Kenya as co-chairs, are the main steps providing an opportunity for the General Assembly to contribute to the preparation of the Decade.