Sao Paulo Declaration | Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean

At the POGO-2 Meeting, much of the discussion focused on the need for improved observations of the oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Many of the challenges that face mankind today (climate change, collapsing fisheries and rising sea level, to name only a few) are global in scope. Our response to these challenges must be based on knowledge of how the world oceans act as a system. Yet, the oceans remain grossly undersampled, and the Southern Hemisphere much more so than the Northern Hemisphere. The issue cannot be addressed without recognising a geopolitical reality: most of the oceans are in the Southern Hemisphere, and most of the major economies in the Northern Hemisphere. A concerted effort at the global level is needed to solve this problem. A key result of the deliberations at POGO-2 was the São Paulo Declaration, which was adopted unanimously by all the participants at the meeting.