EMODnet at the UN Ocean Decade Conference

The UN OD Conference 2024 rallied over 1,500 participants from 124 countries and over 3,000 online viewers, with the wider Ocean Decade Week including 120 Satellite Events.

EMODnet’s key partnership with Copernicus Marine Service for the EDITO infrastructure backbone of the European Digital Twin Ocean was promoted at the Decade Collaborative Centre (DCC) Ocean Prediction booth. A pitch presentation of EMODnet for the UN Ocean Decade was launched by the Secretariat team at the Conference, available here.

EMODnet also contributed to side events covering a range of topics. This included the “DTO4ECOPS” side event which focused on Digital Twins of the Ocean and their relevance to Early Career Ocean Professionals organized in collaboration with EDITO, EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service. EMODnet representatives from the Secretariat and Physics presented at the EU NAUTILOS project satellite event "Technologies in Sustainable Ocean Observations - from Low Cost to New Technology Development" which discussed the marine knowledge value chain from ocean observations to marine data and users. EMODnet Associated Partner FUGRO spoke at an event organized by the World Ocean Council on private sector data sharing, and EMODnet data ingestion representatives spoke at the Blue-Cloud 2026 project side event. As an expert contributor to the JPI Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise, EMODnet also attended a side event on Coastal Prediction which included promotion of the first European Assessment on Sea Level Rise, to be launched in the coming months.

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (the ‘Ocean Decade’) addresses 10 broad Ocean Decade Challenges. EMODnet is a regional best practice for marine data services, providing open and free access to a diverse range of FAIR data and data products that apply across all 10 Challenges. Challenge 8 aims to ‘Create a Digital Representation of the Ocean’, which aims to realise next generation digital assets of FAIR marine data, modelling capability, computing power and more to use for producing predictions and scenarios of societally relevant areas, to support more informed decision-making and sustainable management of our Ocean, coast and inland waters. EMODnet was present in dialogues on this Challenge, also highlighting the key role of EMODnet together with Copernicus Marine Service for the European Digital Twin Ocean.