Recently, the international programme led by our institute, Promoting Research on Ocean Sustainability: Predictive Ecosystems Resilience (PROS-Eco), has been officially approved by UNESCO and included in the list of endorsed programs under the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development 2024–2033 (IDSSD). It serves as a key component of global scientific initiatives advancing sustainable development.
Coordinated by UNESCO, the IDSSD was launched to address complex global challenges in sustainable development, including climate change and biodiversity loss, with an implementation period spanning 2024 to 2033. Centered on interdisciplinary integration, the Initiative fosters in-depth collaboration across basic sciences, applied sciences, social sciences and humanities to tackle global development bottlenecks and accelerate the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. Similar to the UN Ocean Decade Initiative, the IDSSD categorizes its deliverables into three tiers: Programs, Projects and Activities, among which Programs represent the highest level of long-term strategic actions.
PROS-Eco Program is led by Researcher Wang Yuntao Wang from the State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics at our institute, with a core research period spanning from 2025 to 2033. Centered on the core goal of supporting global ecological sustainable development, the Program focuses on predicting marine ecosystem resilience under the dual pressures of climate change and human activities. It intends to conduct research on key scientific and technological issues including precise early warning of marine disasters (e.g., typhoons and marine heatwaves), construction of multi-scale ocean observation networks, development of interdisciplinary coupled models, and sustainable utilization of marine resources.
Adopting a research framework featuring interdisciplinary integration and transnational collaboration, the Program aims to address core scientific challenges in balancing ecological conservation and development. It also serves as an extension and upgrade to UN Ocean Decade MoNITOR (Mitigation of Natural Incidence Towards an increased Oceanic Resilience) programme, which is also led by SIO.
The approval and implementation of the PROS-Eco Program marks a major breakthrough for SIO in the field of international big scientific programs, signifying further recognition of our institute’s marine research capacity and international influence. Moving forward, SIO will continue to deepen international collaboration on ecological sustainable development, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to addressing global ecological challenges and advancing the United Nations SDGs.