Events

For the first time, the UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow on 1 – 12 November 2021. The climate talks will be the biggest international summit the UK has ever hosted; bringing together over 30,000 delegates including heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.

The First International Ocean Data Conference will address the following draft list of topics: 1. The Global Ocean Data Ecosystem: status and way forward 2. Data system networking and interoperability technology and methodology: status report 3. Identifying data and information user needs at the national level 4. Joining multi-sectoral data: experiences and required action 5. Best practices in data and information management 6. Global data sharing : changes in data sharing policies 7. The IOC Ocean InfoHub: experiences and next steps 8. The future of global databases: what’s next for WOD, OBIS,… 9. Data products and services: new developments 10. The small island dilemma: collecting, managing, sharing and using data with minimum resources 11. Including indigenous and citizen science data into the global data ecosystem 12. IODE 60th anniversary

The regionally-focused World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific agenda will provide the platform for nuanced conversation and tailored discussion to catalyse the blue economy in the Asia-Pacific. The summit will convene 100 speakers and 2000 participants virtually over five days. Dedicated tracks on shipping, marine renewable energy, plastics, aquaculture and fishing will provide insight focused on the Asia-Pacific. Plenary sessions will centre on pressing concerns for the ocean and cities, and seek solutions for climate change mitigation and the dangerous decline of biodiversity in the region.

This global event will bring together the broadest cross-section of the ocean community, from businesses to scientists, government, investors, and civil society. No other event rivals its challenging content and diverse and senior audience, or its influence and impact on the acceleration of progress towards a sustainable ocean economy. It aims to change how business is done in the ocean, shaping and advancing the way in which governments, businesses, and conservation organisations work together to fashion the “blue economy”.

The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the Convention, and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings. To date the Conference of the Parties has held 14 ordinary meetings, and one extraordinary meeting (the latter, to adopt the Biosafety Protocol, was held in two parts). From 1994 to 1996, the Conference of the Parties held its ordinary meetings annually. Since then these meetings have been held somewhat less frequently and, following a change in the rules of procedure in 2000, will now be held every two years. This in-person meeting follows a virtual meeting held October 11-15, 2021.

IMPAC is an international forum to discuss marine protected areas (MPAs) that assists in the establishment and management of MPA networks by informing, involving, and influencing stakeholders. The congress happens every four years and brings together marine conservationists, managers, practitioners and scientists from across the world to share their experiences and knowledge of marine conservation and marine protected area establishment.