This article is an edited version of comments made at the 57th session of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO’s Executive Council in Paris on June 27th 2024

With the UN Decade for Ocean Science almost at its halfway point, 2024 presents an opportune moment to assess progress towards achieving a healthy and resilient ocean.

Significant developments are under way. The international community is now negotiating a treaty to address plastic pollution and is on track to finalise an agreement before the year’s end. The 2023 adoption of the High Seas Treaty, also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, represents a significant step forward for marine conservation.

These achievements are a testament to the power of ambitious thinking. At Back to Blue, an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, we believe such ‘moonshot’ approaches are crucial to unlocking further breakthroughs in ocean health.

That is why we created A Global Ocean Free of the Harmful Impacts of Pollution: A Roadmap for Action, representing the culmination of a two-year global consultation process with scientists and other ocean stakeholders.

While plastic pollution’s impact on the ocean is widely recognised, a less visible threat lurks beneath the surface: industrial, agricultural and urban runoff, sewage, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and more.

Patchy monitoring and inaccessible data have created a significant knowledge gap about the impact of these pollutants on marine ecosystems, human health and ocean-dependent economies. Climate change further complicates the issue, potentially altering how these pollutants affect marine health as the ocean warms and acidifies.

A high-level global taskforce, hosted by a UN agency and with diverse members representing governments, scientists, businesses and non-government organisations (NGOs), will be central to this effort. The taskforce, informed by four expert groups focusing on science, data collection, policy, and business and finance, will report every five years on the state of ocean pollution and—crucially—will outline the steps being taken to close the data gap. The taskforce will also convene a network of partners, including UN agencies, universities, businesses and NGOs, to implement solutions.

The roadmap aims not to replace the many existing—but often small-scale—projects, but to amplify and unify them. It presents an opportunity to redefine our approach to ocean health, paving the way for a cleaner and healthier marine environment for future generations.

If implemented, this roadmap will radically reform how the global scientific and policy communities understand and respond to marine pollution.

Yet international collaboration will be critical to realise such a sweeping vision. Strong leadership will be paramount.

The roadmap recommends that the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), host the taskforce, lead the implementation of the roadmap—and realise its bold vision.

The Nippon Foundation strongly supports this recommendation, and I am happy to confirm that the Nippon Foundation is planning to assist the IOC and UNEP to develop the implementation plan for action. I call upon members of the IOC Executive Council to likewise advocate for the adoption of this transformative project.

We have no time to waste.

In March next year, Economist Impact, with The Nippon Foundation as Official Host, will organise the World Ocean Summit in Tokyo. A few months later, the global ocean policy community will gather in Nice for the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.

These meetings present a critical opportunity for all stakeholders to agree on an implementation plan for the roadmap and elevate the issue of unseen ocean pollution to a central position on the international ocean policy agenda.

Our mission at The Nippon Foundation aligns with the roadmap’s aim: to transform scientific knowledge of the ocean into tangible action. And we are ready to do whatever is necessary to help humanity better understand and protect our oceans for future generations.

Ocean pollution is a challenge comparable to other major anthropogenic threats like climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet, it has thus far remained relatively invisible, notwithstanding the welcome focus on plastic waste.

We, along with our partners at Economist Impact, see Back to Blue’s role as catalytic. Back to Blue will continue to support and advocate for the adoption of the roadmap. However, it is ultimately up to the international ocean community to drive its implementation.

By uniting bold ideas with decisive action, we can unlock a future where our oceans are free from the harmful impacts of pollution.