The Ostend Declaration (13-10-2010)

The Ostend Declaration represents a significant output of the EurOCEAN 2010 Conference (12-13 October, 2010). The Declaration highlights the crucial role which marine and maritime science and technology can play in meeting societal and economic needs and identifies the research infrastructures, support mechanisms and governance structures necessary to ensure that critical research challenges in the next decade are properly addressed at national and European level.

The EurOCEAN 2010 Ostend Declaration is the result of a long and thorough consultation process with the marine science and technology community in Europe. Building on a process which began more than six months in advance of the Conference, a drafting group coordinated by the Marine Board-ESF and chaired by Dr Kostas Nittis (Research Director of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Athens) prepared a ‘consultation draft’ of the Declaration. This was done in consultation with key European marine and maritime science stakeholder organisations and networks. The draft Declaration was subsequently opened for a wider online consultation in September 2010. The declaration was then updated based on the numerous responses to the open consultation to produce a ‘conference draft’ Declaration which was presented for discussion during the EurOCEAN 2010 Conference (12-13 October 2010). Over the course of the two-day conference, the Declaration was discussed and updated in response to feedback from the participants and was finally adopted with unanimous support during the closing session of the conference on 13 October 2010.

The development of a Declaration follows the tradition of the Galway (2004) and Aberdeen (2007) Declarations which were delivered during the EurOCEAN 2004 and EurOCEAN 2007 Conferences respectively. While the Ostend Declaration galvanises the key messages of Galway and Aberdeen at the European level, the commitment to deliver the European Research Area for marine science will need to come from national governments. For this reason, the Ostend Declaration addresses also the European Union Member and Associated States. Other targets at national level include marine research funding organisations and those who develop and influence national marine research strategy and programme development, including the marine science community itself. The Ostend Declaration will be published in a EurOCEAN 2010 Conference Report and disseminated widely.