Marco-Bolo News

Strengthening Ocean Governance Through Digital Twins: Highlights from UNOC 2025

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At a pivotal side-event during the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), leading experts from across science, policy, and global institutions gathered in Villefranche-sur-Mer to explore a question at the heart of marine governance: how do we ensure the Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO) delivers real impact for people and the planet?

The event, Making the Digital Twin of the Ocean Fit for Ocean Governance, was co-chaired by Professor Alice Vadrot (University of Vienna) and Dr Nicolas Pade (Executive Director of EMBRC and MARCO-BOLO Coordinator). It brought together voices from Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond, with participants calling for deeper collaboration, more inclusive partnerships, and urgent investment in ocean observation systems.

The panel acknowledged that DTOs, dynamic, data-rich simulations of ocean systems are revolutionising how we understand and manage the marine environment. These virtual replicas allow users to model ocean currents, forecast marine heatwaves, assess climate risks, and much more. Yet, as several speakers warned, these tools are only as good as the data and infrastructure that support them.

Today’s global ocean observation system is, as one speaker put it, “paper thin”, relying on a handful of committed individuals and vulnerable to shifting political and economic winds. Without long-term investment in sensors, research infrastructures, and skilled personnel, the DTO risks becoming a disconnected digital model, divorced from real-world conditions and ineffective for policy.

The Role of Research Infrastructures and Projects Like MARCO-BOLO

MARCO-BOLO and its partners are working to strengthen this foundation. During the session, Dr Pade highlighted the critical role that marine research infrastructures like EMBRC, play in collecting high-quality biodiversity data using tools like environmental DNA (eDNA), remote sensing, and autonomous vehicles. These systems underpin DTOs and must be standardised, interoperable, and transparent to be useful across scientific, policy, and industrial sectors.

He outlined MARCO-BOLO’s approach: improving models, advancing data collection technologies, increasing data accessibility, enhancing modelling tools, and strengthening collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and industry. The aim? A future-ready observation network that informs decisions across Europe and beyond.

Another theme echoed throughout the panel: equity. Delegates from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Brazil’s new National Ocean Research Institute, and Colombia’s INVEMAR made powerful calls for inclusive governance and meaningful participation in the development of DTOs. They warned against extractive models where data is taken from under-observed regions without local involvement, and emphasised the need for capacity-building, technology sharing, and fair access to digital tools. DTOs, they argued, must not deepen existing digital divides – they must bridge them.

Moving Towards a UN-Based Framework

There was strong consensus that regional fragmentation in ocean observation and governance must give way to coordinated, multilateral efforts. Many pointed to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) as the natural UN-based hub to lead this work, a platform that can ensure global equity, scientific rigour, and trusted diplomacy.

DTOs are more than just technical innovations. They represent a new way of seeing, managing, and protecting our ocean, but only if built on a foundation of robust observation, inclusive partnerships, and strong governance.

As MARCO-BOLO continues to strengthen aquatic biodiversity monitoring across Europe, events like this remind us that our tools must be rooted in real data, designed for global cooperation, and open to the diverse voices of the ocean community.