This year was a big one for the ocean. As we move towards the end of the Ocean Super Year, and with conferences still ongoing all around us, there is much still to be both won and lost for ocean and planetary protection.
In this briefing we look back at the past twelve months and forward to 2023 to take stock of the ocean communications world. We ask, what is working? What is changing? And what do we need to consider as we enter the year ahead?
10 Learnings About Effective Ocean Communication in 2022
- Conversations are moving from ‘What do we want to say?’ into the more strategic territory of ‘What change do we seek to affect?’;
- The ocean community continues to see signs of the ocean being better integrated into climate action;
- At COP27, nature-based solutions provided a shared space for ocean and terrestrial narratives;
- We observed increased integrated integration of biodiversity and climate crises messaging, with ‘You can’t tackle the climate crisis without tackling the biodiversity crisis’ becoming a clear, coordinated message to emerge;
- Deep-sea mining has been a ‘hot’ issue with backlash building across a broad spectrum of society;
- Evolution of ocean carbon messaging as nature-based solutions and geoengineering narratives start to converge;
- The body of research on public perceptions of ocean is growing, and a widening definition of ocean literacy provides further common ground for collaboration;
- There has been a noticeable increase in focus on equity within the ocean sphere, both in terms of expanding communications and messaging, but also in expanding available resources and research. However, we hope to see this reflected in systemic approaches to change too.
- There is a continuing communications opportunity around the growing body of ocean data;
- While the ocean may be rising in terms of political prominence, it is not clear that this is translating into decisive ocean action.
This is a summary of the final OneOcean Response Room Briefing of the year. If your organisation is interested in receiving the OneOcean Response Room briefing in your inbox in 2023 or the full 2022 end of year briefing, please email travis@oceanprotect.org.