Ocean sustainability under global change

Norway is an "ocean and coast nation" responsible for an ocean area 7 times greater than land. Norway is the worlds second largest exporter of fish and fish products, a large share of the Norwegian population is living at the coast, and thus securing sustainable, productive and healthy oceans and coasts are of utmost importance. It is apparent that the complex socio-environmental issues and securing or transitioning towards sustainability requires attention from a diverse range of disciplines across the interfaces of natural and social sciences and the humanities, and require both basic, curiosity-driven research and problem-driven, solution-oriented and policy-relevant research. In particular there is an increased call for more collaborative, disciplinary, interdisciplinary and integrated research that addresses key ocean science issues generated by and/or impacting society to foster transformations towards sustainability of the marine realm under global change. This involves co-producing and providing evidence-based knowledge and guidance, along with options for policy-makers, managers and marine-related communities. An overall research goal for IMBER and other international marine communities is to: Understand, quantify and compare historic and present structure and functioning of linked ocean and human systems to project and ultimately predict changes including developing scenarios and options for securing or transitioning towards ocean sustainability. Future Earth supports this goal through engaging societal actors, catalyzing integrated research and fostering collaboration. The aim of this meeting is to determine the status of our understanding of these issues within the Norwegian context, and to identify and prioritize actions that could be undertaken by the Norwegian research community towards achieving these goals.