The Challenge
Over 70% of the earth is covered in water and plays a vital role in regulating climate and supporting life. The oceans provide services ranging from food supplies, mineral resources and energy to climate regulation. There are complex challenges to the sustainability of the oceans caused by local or global scale changes including pollution, acidification, overfishing, warming, and de-oxygenation.
Facing these societal challenges requires people throughout the ocean economy (civil society, industry, policymakers) to work together to ensure access to large volumes of high-quality information regarding ocean health in near real-time and at a low cost.
Sustainable Development Goal 14
BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. This goal has the ambition to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. SDG 14 is made up of ten targets that focus on several topics such as:
- ‘Increasing Scientific Knowledge, Research and Technology for Ocean Health’
- BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® is an excellent science and industrial alliance that aims to enable greater global access to scientific research and advance global knowledge to better understand the world’s changing oceans.
- ‘Reduce Marine Pollution by 2025’ and ‘Reducing Ocean Acidification’
- The data received from BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® projects will feed into global efforts to reduce marine pollution and ocean acidification.
Innovation
With innovation at its heart, BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® is helping to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge, setting the standard for collaboration between industry and science to deliver meaningful research on a global scale, improving understanding of the world’s oceans and seas for a sustainable marine future.
BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® is increasing access to the deep sea for new ocean research through collaboration and innovation, building on the blend of Subsea7’s global deep-water reach and the breadth of scientific expertise at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) to maximise opportunities that come with a presence in most corners of the world’s oceans.
The Alliance is setting the standard for collaboration between industry and science and is encouraging industry to engage with advanced scientific endeavours, providing crucial infrastructure and expertise. The Alliance is bridging the gap between research and business to tackle real-world issues and providing researchers access to hard-to-reach areas and sharing our knowledge at every step along the way.
BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance® is focused and practical, driven to answer key challenges in ocean science, collecting vital marine data and publishing valuable world-class research. The Alliance is developing meaningful engagement with the public and making data freely available, to encourage more engagement with citizen science.
Together we will help accelerate the development of critical ocean sensing technologies aimed at addressing real world issues such as the global climate crisis. Together we are well-positioned to make a meaningful contribution to the health of the Earth’s oceans.
Science
The Alliance brings the parties together to identify and execute ocean research projects that utilise Subsea7 people and assets to carry out their daily work, supported by the science of NOC.
- Establishing innovative ways to carry out ocean science projects in parallel with or enabled by industry operations
- Carrying out ocean science projects that add significant value to understanding the planet
- Sharing our respective knowledge of the oceans and technologies
- Increasing access to deep ocean sites for scientists
Collaboration
NOC facilitate collaboration with other science organisations and oceanographic centres around the world to give the relationship a global science footprint by:
- Establishing regular engagement between the Parties to seek opportunities for ocean science projects
- Jointly participating in conferences and science papers
- Jointly promoting the Alliance and its work to third parties
Collaboration is one of Subsea7’s core Values. Subsea7 seek to collaborate with their clients and stakeholders, to expand proposed projects to collect global ocean data and to develop further technologically innovative science ventures.
