World Oceans Day is marked on 8 June. In a year in which the international message invites society to reimagine its relationship with the ocean, CESAM — Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies of the University of Aveiro highlights the role of science in supporting more informed, integrated and sustainable national and international public policies.
In a context marked by climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, the intensification of marine uses, growing pressure on coastal areas and the transformation of the blue economy, the quality of public decision-making increasingly depends on robust scientific knowledge, continuous data, monitoring capacity and effective interface mechanisms between science, public administration, productive sectors and society.
At CESAM, this contribution takes shape through the production of data, predictive models, indicators, technical reports, opinions, policy briefs, roadmaps, harmonised methods, monitoring systems, and participation in scientific committees, international networks, and national and international working groups. These activities support the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies in areas such as ocean governance, coastal adaptation, conservation of marine biodiversity, management of protected areas, pollution, marine genetic resources, the deep sea, sustainable aquaculture, the blue bioeconomy, maritime spatial planning, and responses to climate, ecological and geological risks.
This vision was recently reinforced by the 1st Ocean Research Forum — Portuguese Marine Science in the Next Decade, held on 13 March 2026 at the University of Aveiro, which brought together the five research centres/associate laboratories with a strong focus on the marine field — CESAM, CCMAR, CIIMAR, MARE and OKEANOS. The Forum resulted in the Aveiro Declaration on Portuguese Marine Science 2026–2035, a consolidated strategic vision for the next decade.
The Declaration underlines that Portugal manages an Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.7 million km², with a proposed extended continental shelf of more than 4 million km², a scale that requires robust, sustained and operational scientific capacity. The document recognises the strong critical mass that exists in Portuguese marine science, but also identifies structural weaknesses that limit its response capacity, including dependence on short-term funding, infrastructure gaps, data fragmentation, insufficient long-term monitoring, and a still fragile science-policy interface.
Among the priorities identified by the Forum are the strengthening of long-term infrastructures, the stabilisation of scientific and technical human capital, the creation of an integrated national ocean monitoring programme, the development of digital governance systems and artificial intelligence applied to the ocean, and the institutionalisation of science-policy-society interface mechanisms. These priorities are particularly relevant for an Atlantic country such as Portugal, which needs sustained scientific knowledge to fulfil national and international obligations, protect ecosystems, manage risks, and develop a sustainable, innovative and non-extractive blue economy.
CESAM’s activity fits directly within this challenge. From the local to the international scale, the centre contributes to transforming research into evidence that can be used by decision-makers, managers, companies and communities. This support is developed, among others, through projects and initiatives in ocean observation, coastal and estuarine modelling, flood risk assessment, wetland restoration, biodiversity monitoring, impact assessment, deep-ocean research, conservation of species and habitats, analysis of pollutants and emerging contaminants, development of solutions for sustainable aquaculture, traceability, biosafety and the valorisation of marine resources.
CESAM’s contribution does not replace political or administrative decision-making. It strengthens it with validated knowledge, robust methods, comparable data, scenarios, risk assessment and recommendations. This role is particularly important in areas where decisions require the integration of several dimensions — environmental, economic, social, technological and territorial — and where scientific uncertainty must be reduced without simplifying the complexity of marine and coastal systems.
For Amadeu Soares, Director of CESAM, World Oceans Day is an opportunity to affirm the responsibility of scientific institutions in supporting evidence-based public policies:
“World Oceans Day reminds us that protecting and managing the ocean requires more than political will: it requires sound knowledge, continuous monitoring and stable scientific capacity. The Aveiro Declaration, resulting from the 1st Ocean Research Forum, shows that Portugal has internationally recognised critical mass, but needs to transform this excellence into a more integrated, sustained and mission-oriented national system. At CESAM, we work precisely at this interface: producing independent science and translating it into models, indicators, reports, recommendations and tools that are useful for decision-makers, managers, productive sectors and communities. We need knowledge, monitoring and cooperation for an observed, protected and well-governed ocean.”
At a time when ocean governance is taking on growing international relevance — from the implementation of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, from biodiversity protection to climate adaptation — CESAM reinforces its commitment to science that supports more informed, anticipatory and responsible public decisions.
On this World Oceans Day, CESAM’s message is clear: knowing the ocean better is an essential condition for protecting, restoring and managing it sustainably. Science does not solve all challenges on its own, but it provides the indispensable basis for understanding, anticipating, deciding and acting.