rThe European Union hosted the 2025 All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Forum in Brussels, Belgium from September 29-30. This year’s Forum theme, “From Enlightenment to Action,” reflects the ambition of AAORIA to move from the vision outlined in the Belem and Gallway Statements, as well as the All-Atlantic Declaration, to strategic implementation.
As a key AAORIA partner, the European Union supports the overall coordination of AAORIA through funding the OKEANO Coordination and Support Action, as well as through “Lighthouse” activities in the Atlantic and Arctic, where area-based solutions are piloted to address the challenges outlined in Horizon Europe’s Mission to ‘Restore our ocean and waters by 2030.’ James Morrison, Director of the Healthy Planet Unit under the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, currently co-chairs AAORIA’s High-Level Board, which sets the strategic directions and priorities of the Alliance.
Mr. Morrison and other keynote speakers from the European Parliament and Commission discussed the importance of the EU Ocean Pact and Ocean Observation Initiative, emphasizing its role in furthering international cooperation in the ocean sciences, including in the Atlantic. As Andre Franqueira Rodrigues, a member of the European Parliament, described: “The Atlantic is not just a geographical space. It is a vital source of life, livelihoods, and resilience. It is a place of history, memory, and the future…. The Atlantic connects us, and science must remain at the core of our cooperation. We must strengthen the ties between our researchers, institutions, and communities.”
EU leadership in advancing Atlantic Ocean science and observations were highlighted in side events and sessions addressing AAORIA’s two Areas of Action: coastal resilience and ocean observations.
On sessions exploring outcome-oriented science that aimed to increase the resilience of coastal communities, projects supported by the EU and its Member States were featured, including GEO Blue Planet and CoastPredict. GEO Blue Planet is an initiative that aims to advance sustainable ocean and coastal management through the development and use of ocean and coastal observations for the benefit of society. Louis Celliers presented the supplementary material to the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Guidelines, co-authored by Hereon/GERICS and GEO Blue Planet. Published this year by UNFCCC, the document highlights the critical role of Earth Observation in supporting the development and implementation of NAPs. GEO Blue Planetis one component of EU4OceanObs, a Horizon Europe funded project aimed at promoting Europe’s contributions to global ocean observations. The CoastPredict Programme, whose Secretariat is hosted by the CMCC Foundation in Italy, is one of the three UN Ocean Decade programmes of the Global Ocean Observing System and aims to revolutionize global coastal ocean observing and forecasting to support coastal community resilience. A key initiative of the CoastPredict Programme is their GlobalCoast Network, which has established over 135 pilot sites in 75 countries with over 230 partner institutions.
During sessions examining how to improve coordination of Atlantic Ocean observing and modeling capacities, speakers from the European Commission made links between its strong interest in the Atlantic Ocean and the Ocean Observation Initiative, noting that their aim with the Initiative was to address ocean observations as comprehensively as possible within the Commission and with Member States. The Ocean Prediction Decade Collaborative Centre, hosted by Mercator Ocean International, was highlighted by several speakers for its work in furthering ocean forecasting services for the global community. Two of its projects, OPERA (Ocean Prediction Enhancement in Regions of Africa) and OP4CR (Ocean Prediction for Costa Rica), were specifically mentioned as EU-funded efforts to expand the reach of EU digital ocean systems globally and provide place-based and tailored forecasting services towards the sustainable management of marine resources.
Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) also took center stage at AAORIA, pitching projects at the main stage of the Forum that they developed with mentors as part of the Intergenerational Dialogue. GEO BluePlanet proudly sponsored two ECOPs to participate in these activities, and you can read about their experiences here. This unique commitment to intergenerational capacity building at AAORIA was further solidified by the launch of the All-Atlantic Blue Intergenerational Programme at the Forum, which will strengthen existing efforts to connect ocean professionals across the Atlantic.
For more information about the 2025 AAORIA Forum, you can read their Summary of Outcomes here: https://allatlanticocean.org/news/summary-of-outcomes-of-the-2025-all-atlantic-forum-from-the-high-level-board-of-the-all-atlantic-ocean-research-and-innovation-alliance-aaoria/
Discover the policy brief produced by the 2 ECOPs we supported to go at AAORIA 2025
Photo credit: Thomas Blairon, Pixelshake
