Communities of Practice

Being endorsed as a Decade Action is the key to full participation in the global momentum of the Ocean Decade. Endorsed Decade Actions get access to international networking and collaboration opportunities and support through Communities of Practice, to be more efficient and more impactful together.

What are Communities of Practice?

Communities of Practice are groups of endorsed Decade Actions working on similar themes (i.e. around the Ocean Decade Challenges) or in similar geographies (i.e. around major ocean basins). They allow partners to optimize their collective impact throughout the Decade, by communicating and working together to carry out a range of essential activities to pursue the objectives of the Ocean Decade.

Communities of Practice have their own designated group spaces on the Ocean Decade Network.

What do Communities of Practice do?

As their core activities, Communities of Practice share insights on the objectives and agenda of Decade Actions, discuss best practices, identify knowledge gaps and collective challenges to fully contribute to sustainable development, and share contacts and opportunities for funding and training.

Where there is Decade Collaborative Centre or Decade Coordination Office already coordinating Decade activities within a region or theme, they will coordinate the relevant Community of Practice. If a Decade Collaborative Centre or Decade Coordination Office has not yet been established for this topic/region, other programmes or departments are encouraged to take the lead.

The members of the Community of Practice will discuss their specific needs and objectives and decide freely the specific tasks and priorities. Members of the Community of Practice will provide recommendations accordingly to the Decade Collaborative Centre or Decade Coordination Office.

Communities of Practice may carry out some of the following activities:

• Ensuring coordination between members
• Assessing best practice and gaps in ocean science within its scope
• Developing communications and outreach
• Contributing to bridging the science-policy gap
• Facilitating capacity building
• Facilitating data exchange
• Mobilizing resources
• Providing an entry point and information conduit

Existing Communities of Practice

• Coastal Ecosystem and Community Resilience
• Ocean Prediction
• Northeast Pacific
• Africa
• Ocean Data Sharing
• Ocean Literacy
• Ocean Practices
• Ocean Climate Solutions and Innovation
• Ocean Climate Nexus
• Ocean Observations
• Deep Sea Research and Management

Communities of Practice coming soon

• Indian Ocean
• Western Pacific Ocean
• Southern Ocean
• Pacific Islands Region of the Pacific Ocean
• Mediterranean Sea
• Tropical Americas and Caribbean
• Multiple Ocean Stressors
• Sustainable Blue Food
• Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems
• Capacity Development

More Communities will emerge over the course of the Decade to address specific issues or respond to new areas of action. To learn about new Communities of Practice, please keep an eye on our communications channels and the Communities of Practice area of the Ocean Decade Network.

Who can join?

Team members of endorsed Decade Actions (Programmes, Projects and Contributions) may join Communities of Practice. Decade Actions are free to join as many existing Communities of Practice as relevant to their work.

Decade Actions can also apply to create new Communities of Practice on a focus not already covered, as long as enough Actions are interested in the Community of Practice and commit to contributing to its coordination. There is more information about starting Communities of Practice in the ‘Resources’ section of the Ocean Decade Network.