Expression of Interest for World Ocean Assessment workshop

The FCT is promoting an expression of interest aimed at the national scientific community for participation in the regional workshop on the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea, as part of the Regular Process for the Global Report and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment (World Ocean Assessment), including socioeconomic aspects, now in its third cycle.

The workshop will take place in The Hague, Netherlands, between November 28 and 30, 2022, in person, but online participation will also be possible. The workshop is open to the scientific community with an interest in the area, and experts who wish to participate must apply by filling out a specific form that will be made available by FCT to those who express interest in participating. The deadline for registration for the workshop is October 5, at 12 PM EST, so expressions of interest should be sent to FCT prior to this date, to the email: victor (at) silva @ fct.pt.

The Regular Process is a global mechanism established by the United Nations (UN) in 2002, promoted by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. Its objective is to regularly assess the environmental, economic, and social aspects of the current and foreseeable state of the world's oceans. More specifically, the Regular Process aims to contribute to strengthening the regular scientific assessment of the state of the marine environment in order to strengthen the scientific basis for policy-making. The World Ocean Assessment (WOA) is the main outcome of the Regular Process.

The WOA is the only integrated global assessment of the world's oceans that covers social, economic, and environmental aspects. It is a collective and ongoing effort by hundreds of global experts, serving as a basis for governments and policymakers around the world to make informed decisions on ocean issues in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The first cycle of the WOA (WOAI) took place between 2010-2014 (report), the second (WOA II) between 2016-2020 (report), and the third (WOAIII) began in 2021 and will end in 2025. As part of the development of WOAIII, there will be two phases of regional workshops: The first phase, running until the end of 2022, promotes capacity building and discussion of the thematic areas to be focused on in WOAIII; The second phase will take place after the WOAIII structure has been approved and will promote more in-depth discussions for the development of the report within this third cycle.

Portugal is represented in this process by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the FCT, as national focal points, and by the Portuguese expert to the Group of Experts, Professor Maria João Bebianno from CIMA-Center for Marine and Environmental Research, University of Algarve.