The Mediterranean Sea We Need for the Future We Want

The present report outlines the main results of the launch event of the "Science We Need for the Mediterranean Sea We Want" Programme (SciNMeet), hosted by the Italian Oceanographic Commission (COI) in a hybrid modality in Rome at National Research Council (CNR) on the 11th-12th of July 2022, and co-organized the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM/FAO) in collaboration with the BlueMed Initiative. The SciNMeet Programme is an Action of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (hereafter Ocean Decade) and addresses major Mediterranean challenges and gaps in scientific knowledge with the aim to better understand and manage impacts of climate change, pollution, overexploitation of resources, and marine hazards on the marine environment to contribute to maintenance of ecosystems' functioning and the sustainability of relevant economic operations as well as preventing biodiversity loss. Increasing education, awareness and international collaboration, by mobilizing the scientific community, policy-makers, private sector and society at large. Based on these objectives, the Programme addresses the Ocean Decade's seven outcomes and will contribute to the implementation of the Agenda 2030. Following a preliminary assessment of the available capacities, the objective of the UN-Decade Programme is to turn the Mediterranean area into a "model region" where the challenge of strengthening the science-policy-society interface towards reversing the cycle of decline of the Mediterranean marine environment is fully tackled. This effort will explicitly point to the interconnections of pollution, climate and hazard risk issues with the sustainability of the blue economy proving the effectiveness of long-term synergies and cooperation. Supported by a tailored governance system, seven technical Task Teams are working together to address thematic and cross-cutting lines of actions such as Climate Change, Marine Pollution, Marine Hazard, Ocean Literacy & Education, Ocean Observing & Prediction, Data Sharing, and Knowledge Transfer/Capacity Building, by engaging the broad community of stakeholders, according to the principle of co-design and in line with the principles outlined in the Ocean Decade Implementation Plan. In doing so, the SciNMeet system will constantly bring its outputs and contribution to major R&I and science-to-policy frameworks. During the launch event the introductory plenary session was followed by operational parallel meetings of the Task Teams, addressing contents and rationale, Terms of Reference and roadmap for the smooth running of the activities. Besides giving a general overview on the event and plenary session, that mark a substantial milestone to start-up the activities of the Programme, this report provides also a brief insight on the work carried out by the seven Task Teams.