Barcelona to house the headquarters of the UNESCO Ocean Decade
Barcelona will be the home of the Ocean Decade Collaborative Centre, a complex devoted to economic development in the sustainable blue economy, operated by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The centre will operate until at least 2030, the end of Ocean Decade coordinated by this international organisation’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.Barcelona is the first city to lead one of the ten challenges set by the UN in defence of the marine ecosystem and the development of a sustainable and equitable ocean economy, with universities and research centres also giving their backing. The city also firms up its leading role in the promotion of the blue economy.
The City Council will be heading the project in collaboration with Port de Barcelona and the Government of Catalonia, with science partners such as the Spanish National Research Council, through the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) and BlueNetCat, the Catalan Maritime R+D+I network made up of over 800 scientists from the main Catalan universities and research centre, and with the support of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.
The Barcelona Capital Nàutica Foundation will be responsible for managing the staff and the budget. The centre will start operating in 2025 with a director and two specialists, with the idea of increasing the team to five people after its third year in operation. The project is based around three strategic areas:
- Generating knowledge about the blue economy.
- Driving innovation in this sector.
- Fostering international partnerships and alliances.
Following these areas, several specific actions will be developed such as the consolidation of a Blue Economy Impact Investment Fund based in Barcelona or the promotion of international events in this sphere, to be held in the city, mainly the Tomorrow Blue Economy.
Blue economy as a strategic sector
According to a report by the Ministry for Agriculture in 2024, on data from 2021, the blue economy in Catalonia represents a business volume of 15,000 million euros (3.3% of the total figure for Catalonia), a gross value added of 3,800 million euros (1.7 of the figure for Catalonia) and employs 104,000 people (2.9% of the total for Catalonia).
The blue economy is actually one of the ten sectors defined as strategic in the Barcelona Impulsa plan, the city’s economic agenda until 2035, focusing on the creation of quality jobs and the city’s economic diversification.
Three important new facilities are under way for the blue economy and will be operational between 2027 and 2028; the Barcelona Maritime Technology Park at the Nova Bocana del Port, the BlueTechPort innovation hub promoted by Port de Barcelona and the Barcelona Mar de Ciència centre, an ocean laboratory for the social transformation of the ICM.
