Ocean Acidification Taken Up At World Ocean Summit
World Ocean Summit & Expo at Tokyo, Japan
Economist Impact, with the support of official host The Nippon Foundation, hosted the 12th World Ocean Summit in Tokyo in 2025. With over 14,000 islands, 347,000km of coastline and a blue economy that is forecasted to reach 28 trillion yen by 2030, Japan as a maritime nation offers a rich cultural and historical perspective.
The summit was designed to instigate action to develop the sustainable ocean economy; to encourage new partnerships across industries, with NGOs, scientists, technology developers and investors. By bringing together all stakeholders in the ocean ecosystem, the summit provided the perfect platform to inspire new synergies, solutions and strategies on the track to meet the 2030 targets in UN SDG 14.
This year included a focus on ocean acidification, calling on government and private sector action on ocean acidification. Supported by Back to Blue, a panel discussion took place on the 13th of March highlighting the need for clear case studies demonstrating how countries are turning knowledge and evidence into action and policy, as well as how knowledge should be leveraged with good financial models.
The panel included perspectives from Moderator Naka Kondo, Japan lead, Impact Initiatives, Economist Impact as well as the following speakers:
Punyasloke Bhadury, Professor, IISER Kolkata
Steve Widdicombe, Director of Science, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Jessie Turner, Executive Director, OA Alliance
Masahiko Fujii, Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo
Henrik Oksfeldt Enevoldsen, Head of Centre, Ocean Science Programme Manager, IOC-UNESCO
Madadh MacLaine, Secretary-General, Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association
“The good news is countries are stepping up because they understand they have a role in responding to ocean and coastal acidification. They are leveraging national policies like climate adaptation plans and Sustainable Ocean Plans to account for ocean acidification. They know this is about seafood economies, coastal resource protection and pollution control. They are taking positive steps to connect science to policy." - Jessie Turner
International Ocean Seminar
Following the World Ocean Summit, the OA Alliance took part in the International Ocean Seminar on March 14.
As part of the organizers, we hosted a subcommittee session on ocean acidification which brought together science practitioners, policy makers, private sector, and relevant finance institutions across The Asia-Pacific Region to accelerate the coordination of ocean acidification science and action across climate, marine and sustainable development portfolios such as UN 2030 Agenda.
Presentations included an overview of the ocean acidification science networks and projects staking shape across the region. The discussions with the invited participants focused on the following:
What regional entities/ arenas are best designed to coordinate and integrate OA science across core policy portfolios?
What financing institutions are most aligned to support this work?
Developing an Action Taking Roadmap (1-3 years) for pan-regional countries.
