The announcement came during the recent One Summit Ocean, held in Brest. Spain, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and France have pledged to transform Mercator Ocean International into an “intergovernmental organization in charge of the world’s first digital ocean”. Behind this change, a clear mission for the new structure, which today employs a hundred people in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne): create a digital twin of the oceans.
“Our job is to collect ocean observations, from satellites or at sea, in order to create a digital ocean. This allows us, through simulation systems we have developed, to describe, analyze and predict the physical and biogeochemical state of oceans and ice around the world., explains Pierre Bahurel, Managing Director of Mercator Ocean International. By creating this digital twin, we will integrate boats, pollution, wildlife in order to better understand the interactions. For example, if we divide the speed of boats by two, and therefore their noise, what impact does this have on the environment, on the reproduction of such and such a species…”
To create this intergovernmental organisation, the 6 European States will therefore rely on an existing structure, which today has an annual budget of 30 million euros. Mercator Ocean International was selected by the European Commission to implement the European ocean monitoring service, the Copernicus Marine Service.
The “ambitious” objective, according to Pierre Bahurel, is to be ready at the beginning of 2024. If this change of status will not have much impact on the functioning of Mercator Ocean International, it will however have significant effects, according to its general manager. He thus sees in it the arrival of the ocean at the level of sovereign issues: “It is essential because it is a common good, which covers 70% of the surface of the globe and produces 50% of the Earth’s oxygen. . »
The creation of this organization will also make it easier to invite all the European states to take part in governance. “Finally, and this is the most important thing, it creates an organization dedicated to the ocean in Europe, in the same way as what there may be for space or trade and health at the global level. There is an awareness that this is a political object,” rejoices Pierre Bahurel. Knowledge of the oceans is a major challenge in solving the climate crisis and the future structure will therefore be an essential tool.