Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed in United Nations Resolution A/RES/70/1, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015 held in September 2015. “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” was set as SDG 14. Currently, the United Nations is considering drawing up a new system for managing the areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), which would include the deep sea bed and high seas, focusing on marine genetic resources, area-based management tools including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and capacity building and the transfer of marine technology. This is one of the major international movements towards realizing SDG 14. Regarding the oneness of the ocean, it is important to conserve the marine environment through proper environmental impact assessment based on a uniform standard for global marine survey and monitoring data, including developing counties.
From FY2015 until FY2017, YNU-DEEPS initiated preparations for the development of technical standards by the ISO for use in marine environmental impact assessments, in collaboration with JAMSTEC and NIES , its partners in the SIP project Next-Generation Technology for Ocean Resources Exploration (Zipangu in the Ocean Program). In FY2018, YNU-DEEPS will continue to advance the development of technical standards by the ISO for use in marine environmental impact assessments, and consider how to expand these standards to developing countries, such as Pacific Island countries that will promote deep-sea mining activity, considering capacity building and technology transfer.
(1) We support the international standardization procedure of the following 4 ISO preliminary work items (PWIs) in collaboration with JAMSTEC and NIES.
- ISO/PWI 22781: General technical requirement on marine environment impact assessment
- ISO/PWI 22782: Long term in situ image based surveys in deep sea environments
- ISO/PWI 22784: General protocol for observation of meiofaunal community
- ISO/PWI 22785: Onboard bioassay for seawater quality monitoring using delayed fluorescence of microalgae
- These ISO standards are being established in ISO/TC8 -Ship and marine technology /SC13 –Marine technology.
About the Project: “YNU-DEEPS”
