The project is currently being led by a consortium "Towards IPOS". Supported by the European Commission and several countries, the IPOS concept is evolving through broad consultations, with the goal of presenting a final concept at the UNOC-3 in June 2025 for consideration.
About
Genesis
The IPOS concept has been developed through international discussions to address this knowledge-decision gap.
Consortium
The Towards IPOS team, composed of the Ocean Sustainability Foundation, together with consortium of partners won the open call from the EU "Towards an IPOS". This initiative will bring together a diverse global network of leading ocean scientists, interdisciplinary experts, policy makers and civil society stakeholders in support for the establishment of the Towards IPOS initiative. A heartfelt thank you to our partners for embarking on this journey with us.
Interim governance
The Towards IPOS team has set up an interim governance until IPOS is created.
The governance is structured around:
A Core team: the consortium
An advisory board
A Knowledge Committee development team
A coalition of scientific institutions
Strategic partners
Knowledge Committee Development Team
The provisional missions of the Knowledge Committee Development Team (KCDT) include advising on the governance structure of IPOS, specifically the role of the Knowledge Committee. The KCDT will also support networking by building a transdisciplinary, international network and help define the IPOS international experts panel.
Current members of the Knowledge Committee Development Team:
Olusola ADEOYE (Nigeria) — Coast2DeepSea Initiative
Kyana BOWEN (Trinidad and Tobago) — Executive Director, Global Compact Network Caribbean (UNGC)
Mariana CLAUZET (Brazil) — Instituto Mar Adentro and UNIFESP
Fabrizio D’ORTENZIO (Italy) — Oceanographer at the Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (CNRS/Sorbonne University)
Matt FROST (United Kingdom) — Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Nianzhi JIAO (China) — Xiamen University
Amb. Nancy W. KARIGITHU (Kenya) — Government of Kenya
Laura KHATIB (Lebanon) — ECOP Asia
Abdennaji LAAMRICH (Morocco) — ATLAFCO
Anthony NDAH (Cameroon) — Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Jerneja PENCA (Slovenia) — Science and Research Centre Koper, Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies
Markus REYMANN (Germany) — TBA21
Samiya SELIM (Bangladesh) — ULAB
Gerald SINGH (Canada) — University of Victoria
Mia STRAND (South Africa and Norway) — Nelson Mandela University
Advisory board
The Towards IPOS team, composed of the Ocean Sustainability Foundation, together with consortium of partners won the open call from the EU "Towards an IPOS". This initiative will bring together a diverse global network of leading ocean scientists, interdisciplinary experts, policy makers and civil society stakeholders in support for the establishment of the Towards IPOS initiative. A heartfelt thank you to our partners for embarking on this journey with us.
Current members of the advisory board:
Sigi GRUBER (🇮🇹 Italy, female) — Formerly Head of the Marine Resources Unit at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission.
Peter HAUGAN (🇳🇴 Norway, male) — Chair of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. Formerly Director of the Institute of Marine Research, Norway.
Maria LAAMANEN (🇫🇮 Finland, female) — Currently Senior Specialist at the Ministry of the Environment, Finland.
Margareth LIENEN (🇺🇲 USA, female) — Currently Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA.
David OBURA (🇰🇪 Kenya, male) — Chair of the IPBES. Founding Director of CORDIO East Africa.
Laura PEREIRA (🇿🇦 South Africa, female) — Currently Researcher at the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University.
Brune POIRSON (🇫🇷 France, female) — Chief Sustainability Officer at Accor. Formerly Secretary of State for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, France.
Hans-Otto POERTNER (🇩🇪 Germany, male) — Co-Chair of the IPCC Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Formerly Professor of Marine Biology at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
Janez POTOČNIK (🇸🇮 Slovenia, male) — Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel. Formerly European Commissioner for the Environment.
Vladimir RYABININ (🇷🇺 Russia, male) — Formerly Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. Formerly Director of the Department of Climate Change Research at the State Hydrological Institute of Russia.
Lisa SVENSSON (🇸🇪 Sweden, female) — Global Director for Ocean at the World Resources Institute. Formerly Director of Ocean Governance at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
