A New Era of Blue Enlightenment

‘A New Era of Blue Enlightenment’ was the title of the recent European Commission event held in Lisbon, Portugal to celebrate the launch of the South Atlantic Flagship initiative between the European Union, Brazil and South Africa. The initiative aims to better understand and protect marine ecosystems and to increase scientific knowledge of the interrelations between the oceans and (i) climate change, (ii) food (iii) energy systems.

The programme included sessions on climate and ecosystem approaches, investment opportunities, food security, fisheries management and aquaculture, earth and ocean observation and forecasting systems, philanthropy and the private sector, and ocean technology. More information about the meeting can be found here.

Doug presenting at the meeting (Image courtesy of Torsten Thiele)

Doug Connelly, the SenseOCEAN coordinator gave a presentation on ‘Sensor and sampler – technological driver for better observing the Atlantic’ where he highlighted some of the SenseOCEAN achievements that will enable this.