U.S. Commits to National OA Action Plan in 2023
On March 21, the U.S. federal government released several commitments to environmental conservation and restoration.
The commitments included President Biden’s Ocean Climate Action Plan which aims to:
create a carbon-neutral future;
accelerate solutions that tap the power of natural coastal and ocean systems; and
enhance community resilience to ocean change by developing ocean-based solutions that help communities adapt and thrive.
Importantly, the Administration’s Ocean Climate Action Plan included a commitment to develop a National OA Action Plan by the end of 2023, which would:
Promote and lead greater international collaboration between members of the OA Alliance and other interested countries.
Accelerate research and monitoring on ocean acidification.
Expand engagement with U.S. coastal communities vulnerable to ocean acidification, especially Tribal communities.
Continue to raise awareness about ocean acidification as a significant problem for marine life, fisheries and aquaculture, and a sustainable ocean economy, and seek international collaboration.
For more than 10 years, the US federal government and coastal states have played a key role in documenting and responding to OA, generating best practices and learnings domestically and internationally.
Increasingly, OA knowledge must become a cross cutting issue helping to achieve and effectively implement OCAP priorities, opportunities, and actions.