During the instance, in addition to representing Chile, Gonzalo Campos must be part of the development of evaluation reports of the marine environment, where socioeconomic aspects must also be considered.
After an application process led by the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Chile was approved for the list of experts for the Regular Process of the Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), with the participation of Gonzalo Campos, researcher at the Center for Dynamic Research in High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) of the Austral University of Chile (UACh).
Along with a group of experts from various countries, their main task will be to contribute to the synthesis and writing of information for the development of global assessment reports, in this case WOA III and the following reports.
“The work is organized based on the requirements made by the group of experts, who are the ones who give the guidelines from each country. In addition, international workshops are held a few times a year, where both groups meet to discuss specific issues on how to build the reports and see what situation each country is in regarding the sustainability of the oceans,” explains Campos, about his role.
What is the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea Regular Process?
The “Regular Process” is an initiative carried out by the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. This process is a global mechanism established by states after the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its objective is to periodically review the environmental, economic and social aspects of the state of the world’s oceans, both current and foreseeable.
Its purpose is to contribute to the strengthening of periodic scientific assessment of the state of the marine environment in order to improve the scientific basis for policy formulation. As part of this process, reports on the World Ocean Assessment (WOA) are generated, from which two reports have already resulted. Currently, the third process for the third WOA III report is under development.
“The third cycle of the Regular Process was launched by the General Assembly in December 2019, to cover five years from 2021 to 2025. According to the work program for the third cycle, one of the next challenges will be the production of one or more assessments of the marine environment, including socioeconomic aspects,” explains the IDEAL Center researcher.
“In addition, the Regular Process will provide support to other ocean-related intergovernmental processes, which may include a series of summaries for policymakers tailored to each process. The third cycle will also include a capacity building program with the objective of strengthening the interface between ocean science and policy at the national, regional and global levels,” concludes Campos.