Sneak peek into the Research Topic "Towards a Sustainable Ocean"

28-February-2022 (written by Jessica Pearce)

The Sequeira Lab leader, Dr Ana Sequeira, has been part of a team of editors on a Research Topic about the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 - Life Below Water: Towards a Sustainable Ocean published in Frontiers in Marine Science. The editorial piece that forms the preface for the research topic, led by Dr Brett Molony and co-authored by 15 other editors, provides a sneak peek on the contents published in this relevant topic.

SDG 14 is part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), and the editorial provides a glimpse of the diverse approaches and intellectual capital invested in ocean sustainability based on the peer-reviewed manuscripts that compose the topic. The editorial highlights the disparity between how much we rely on ocean services and how little we still know about it, especially the deep sea, as well as the influence of human impacts . It discusses the many challenges of ocean sustainability, and potential solutions, such as sustainable fishing, spatial, socio-ecological and governmental conservation management. The links between this SDG and others of the UN are made clear as many initiatives across the UN Ocean Decade, UN Decade of Restoration, SDGs of No Poverty, Zero Hunger and Good Health and Well-being are synergistic.

Congratulations to all contributors to this exciting research topic!