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Plymouth Marine Laboratory hosts 6th UK National Decade Committee meeting
14 September 2023
The UK National Decade Committee (UK NDC), whose new Chair is PML’s Head of the International Office Dr Matt Frost, was hosted at PML for its 6th meeting between 13th – 15th September 2023.
The UK NDC works to ensure UK support for the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade). Its mission is to “amplify the UK’s collective voice in accelerating transformational ocean science to facilitate the delivery of clean, healthy and resilient, productive, predicted, safe, accessible, inspiring and engaging oceans and seas.”
Dr Frost said, “It has been fantastic to host the UK National Decade Committee at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Plymouth is known as ‘Britain’s Ocean City,’ and it felt like an apt location for our meeting and, as I work here at PML, it was also a good opportunity to share a little more information about the work done here. I think everyone agreed it is a great location to support our goal of promoting UK science internationally, to drive forward a transformative agenda for our ocean."
Above: The UK National Decade Committee members met from 13th – 14th September, in a hybrid-meeting, held at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and over Zoom.
Dr Frost was appointed earlier this year as the new Chair of the UK’s National Decade Committee (NDC) - established to inspire, coordinate and facilitate UK engagement with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
As Chair, Matt is working with the Committee Members from across the breadth of the UK’s Ocean science to champion the UN Ocean Decade and support the UK’s vision that by 2030 our oceans will be effectively governed, clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse.
Above: UK National Decade Committee working through items on the agenda over the course of the two-day meeting.
What is the UK National Decade Committee?
The UK National Decade Committee (NDC) utilises an all-society approach with members from across the breadth of ocean science to champion the UN Ocean Decade within the UK’s Ocean Science and sustainability communities, as well as supporting regional and international engagement through the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The Committee will also support goals of the Integrated Review for promoting UK science internationally and the UK vision that by 2030 the ocean will be effectively governed, clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse, linking resilient and prosperous coastal communities around the world, and supporting sustainable economic growth for the UK, the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies.
More information: https://uk-ndc.org/