In a significant response to urgent climate-related threats, a new international center headquartered at Georgia Aquarium, endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, will support versatile, collaborative solutions to improve the health of the world’s oceans.

The Ocean Visions ­­– UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions (OV – UN DCC), a partnership with Ocean Visions, Georgia Aquarium, and Georgia Institute of Technology, is the only center of its kind in the United States.

The climate crisis is one of the greatest threats facing public health, natural resources and the economy worldwide, and ocean ecosystems are not only at risk, but also offer the potential of climate mitigation solutions.

The primary focus of the Center is to help co-design, develop, test, fund and deliver scalable and equitable ocean-based solutions to reduce the effects of climate change and build climate-resilient marine ecosystems and coastal communities. There are also tremendous opportunities to accelerate carbon clean-up and advance sustainable ocean economies.

“A diverse approach is critical to address today’s serious threats to ocean health,” said Brian Davis, Ph.D., president and CEO of Georgia Aquarium. “As a mission-focused conservation leader, Georgia Aquarium is keen to host this multinational center that will connect innovative researchers with the resources to create and launch projects that may solve ocean-climate issues.”

In affiliation with the Ocean Decade, run by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Center’s work will contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to achieve by 2030 that are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

“In response to the need for partnership and investment in ocean science, and to help urgently mitigate the impact of climate change on the ocean, the Ocean Decade movement thanks Ocean Visions, Georgia Aquarium, and Georgia Institute of Technology for this generous support and long-term commitment,” said Julian Barbière, Ocean Decade Global Coordinator and Head of the Marine Policy and Regional Coordination Section, IOC-UNESCO. “Such exemplary leadership by our Decade Collaborative Centers, spearheaded by the OV – UN DCC in the U.S. is an important step towards developing effective ocean-climate solutions.”

The ocean nurtures 80% of all life on Earth. Billions of people rely on food from the ocean, and world economies depend upon it for fishing, tourism, shipping, energy and more. It is the world’s largest carbon sink, vital to curbing the impacts of climate change. Healthy marine habitats defend coastal communities from intensifying storms and flooding.

“The ocean crisis and the climate crisis are two sides of the same coin, and we cannot have a healthy ocean without resolving the climate crisis and the greenhouse gas pollution causing it,” said Brad Ack, executive director and chief innovation officer at Ocean Visions, a nonprofit that develops solutions to complex ocean challenges.

“This work will take bold imagination, greatly expanded innovation, and many more people from around the world engaged in this effort collectively. This new Center will give us a framework to build the innovation ecosystem we desperately need,” said Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Ph.D., chairman and co-founder of Ocean Visions.

The ocean has buffered humanity from the worst effects to date of climate disruption by directly absorbing about 30 percent of humanity’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and trapping more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the biosphere caused by CO2 pollution. However, both of these climate-buffering functions have come at a high cost – unraveling marine ecosystems and crippling the ability of the ocean to support the billions of people and other creatures dependent upon it.

The Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center will work with an emerging global network of experts and collaborators associated with projects and programs to design, test and deploy viable solutions, such as Ocean Visions’ Global Ecosystem for Ocean Solutions, 1000 Ocean Startups and Stride.

For example, one issue being solved is securing investment in ocean solutions. The Center is helping advance the development of a new open-source tool called The Ocean Impact Navigator, which consists of 30 prioritized key performance indicators (KPIs), grouped in six main impact areas. It captures effects that innovators are driving across ocean health, climate change, human wellbeing and equity.

“This Center signals an urgent, strategic commitment to finding climate solutions,” said Susan Lozier, Ph.D., dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair at Georgia Tech and President of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). “Ocean health is also human health, and we must find effective ways to protect waters around the planet.”

“At this Center, the best and brightest minds—including our researchers, staff and students—will ensure that our ocean will remain vital for generations to come,” added Tim Lieuwen, Ph.D., executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech who also serves as Regents’ Professor and David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the Institute’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “The solutions are there, and we look forward to working alongside Georgia Aquarium and Ocean Visions to find them, with the support of the Ocean Decade movement.”

For more information about the Ocean Visions ­­– UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions, visit the website at oceanvisions.org/undcc/.

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About Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions
The Ocean Visions – UN Decade Collaborative Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions is an innovative partnership between Ocean Visions, Georgia Tech and Georgia Aquarium, with headquarters at the Aquarium in Atlanta. The Center, endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, leads and supports processes to co-design, develop, test, fund and deploy scalable and equitable ocean-based solutions to reduce or reverse the effects of climate change, enhance food security and build climate-resilient marine ecosystems and coastal communities. The Center’s work contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to achieve by 2030 that are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

About the Ocean Decade
Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (‘the Ocean Decade’) seeks to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and catalyse new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive marine ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. The Ocean Decade provides a convening framework for scientists and stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop the scientific knowledge and the partnerships needed to accelerate and harness advances in ocean science to achieve a better understanding of the ocean system, and deliver science-based solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.

About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry and society.

This article was published on: November 1, 2022

ATLANTA (July 28, 2022) – Georgia Aquarium is becoming a Center for Species Survival (CSS) through a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC), part of the world’s largest environmental conservation organization.

The Aquarium, one of just three such Centers in the United States, was tapped for its expertise in marine species conservation. It will contribute knowledge, experience, and capacity to global plans to save wildlife. The work of the Center includes collaboration with conservation organizations, field scientists, academics, and government officials.

The Center will work in partnership with the IUCN SSC, the largest of the IUCN’s six expert commissions and made up of more than 10,000 conservationists worldwide. The CSS partnerships recognize that accredited zoos and aquariums have critical data and expert knowledge resulting from years of caring for endangered species and engaging with visitors.

“These new IUCN SSC partnerships have great potential to reverse the staggering decline in wildlife and plants around the world,” said Dr. Alistair Dove, Vice President of Science and Education at Georgia Aquarium. “After decades of caring for endangered species, accredited zoos and aquariums have a wealth of data and expertise and sharing knowledge this way is a resourceful approach that will greatly advance conservation planning. Georgia Aquarium will continue to commit our scientists and animal care experts to the SSC’s critical work to save species, from innovative strategies to effective on-the-ground action.”

Many organizations, including Georgia Aquarium, are doing extensive conservation work. These new partnerships help that work become a more structured part of the global conservation community, unifying under One Plan to assess, plan and act to reverse negative wildlife trends.

This sharing of experience and knowledge builds cooperation and reduces redundancies on projects and allows the IUCN to share conservation information with millions of people who visit zoos and aquariums each year.

As a CSS, Georgia Aquarium’s work will include:

• Conducting additional assessments for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which identifies and evaluates species threatened with extinction

• Planning conservation projects and hosting workshops

• Conserving endangered species living at the Aquarium

• Training other zoos and aquariums on effective species conservation work

Georgia Aquarium has volunteered critical resources to the IUCN SSC for years. One of its researchers, Katelyn B. Herman, is a trained Red List Officer, helping lead extinction risk assessments. As part of the IUCN’s Shark Specialist Group, Herman worked on The Global Shark Trends Project, which recently concluded a multi-year assessment that found shark, ray, and chimaera populations have declined 71 percent in the past 50 years.

“Georgia Aquarium has been at the forefront of aquatic science for years, making important breakthroughs for marquee marine species. These Centers will be vital to coordinating conservation knowledge and developing plans to save species threatened with extinction. Our commitment to protecting our ocean is unwavering.

Georgia Aquarium conducts conservation work both at its facility and in the field around the world. One current project involves the reintroduction of endangered zebra sharks to their home range in Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Other projects have included conservation and rescue work for whale sharks, African penguins, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, manta rays, beluga whales, spotted eagle rays, sea lions, and corals.

“The IUCN SSC believes strongly in the unique role that accredited zoos and aquariums must play in saving species, spanning breeding, husbandry, veterinary care, public engagement, fundraising, research and much more,” said Dr. Kira Mileham, IUCN SSC Strategic Partnership Director. “We are working hard to establish these new partnerships between individual zoos and aquariums, SSC specialist groups, taxon advisory groups, and species conservation programs around the world, so that together we can ensure a more optimistic shared future for people and wildlife”.

Other Centers within the United States include the Global Center for Species Survival (GCSS), based at the Indianapolis Zoo in Indiana, and the Center for Species Survival: New Mexico at the Albuquerque Biopark, New Mexico. The GCSS, created in October 2019, works closely with all the SSC’s global Species Specialist Groups and employs experts that focus on freshwater, marine, plants, fungi, invertebrates, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, and birds.

While Georgia Aquarium is a hub for marine species, the CSS: New Mexico, focuses on medicinal plants, freshwater fishes, and pollinating insects. Seven other hubs have been established around the world with more on the way. The current Centers for Species Survival include Paradise Wildlife Park, United Kingdom; Oceanário de Lisboa, Portugal; Parque Das Aves, Brazil; Temaiken Fundacion, Argentina; Mandai Nature, Singapore; Zoos and Aquarium Association Australasia, Australia; and Loro Parque, Canary Islands.