Evolving and Sustaining Ocean Best Practices to Enable Interoperability in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade) challenges the ocean research community to map and understand the changing ocean to inform and stimulate social and economic development, while conserving marine ecosystems. To achieve these objectives, the methodologies that generate data and information about the ocean need to interoperate with unprecedented depth and scale. For this, we must expand global participation in ocean science through a new and coherent approach to best practice development, supporting capacity development and sharing across a dramatically expanded range of communities. Here, we present perspectives on this issue gleaned from the ongoing development of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS). The OBPS is collaborating with individuals and programs around the world to transform the way ocean methodologies are managed, in strong alignment with the Outcomes envisioned by the Ocean Decade. However, significant challenges remain. These include the haphazard management of methodologies across their life cycle, the ambiguous endorsement of what is “best” and when/where, and the inconsistent access to best practices across disciplines and cultures. To help address these challenges, this Perspective recommends how we - as a global marine science community - can ensure our methodological know-how supports the Ocean Decade outcomes through: promoting convergence of methodologies into context-dependent best practices; incorporating contextualized best practices into Ocean Decade Actions; clarifying who endorses which method and why; creating a global network of complementary ocean practices systems; and ensuring broader consistency and flexibility in international capacity development. Citation: Pearlman J, Buttigieg PL, Bushnell M, Delgado C, Hermes J, Heslop E, Hörstmann C, Isensee K, Karstensen J, Lambert A, Lara-Lopez A, Muller-Karger F, Munoz Mas C, Pearlman F, Pissierssens P, Przeslawski R, Simpson P, van Stavel J and Venkatesan R (2021) Evolving and Sustaining Ocean Best Practices to Enable Interoperability in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:619685. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.619685