Vol. 12 | October 2025
A note from GOAP's Co-Chairs
Dear GOAP colleagues and friends,
We were honoured to be re-elected as Co-Chairs to the GOAP Secretariat during the Members meeting in September 2025, and we thank all GOAP Members for your ongoing support. We look forward to working with you all over the next two years to continue to progress the global uptake of ocean accounts to support and inform sustainable ocean governance.
The GOAP Members Meeting provided an inspiring overview the Partnership’s achievements in 2025. Members endorsed the new Engagement Plan, which will deliver online learning modules, monthly webinars, and enhanced peer-to-peer networks. Looking ahead, the Partnership is developing partnership frameworks and mechanisms for resource sharing.
Global momentum for ocean protection is accelerating. From the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion to over 50 countries integrating ocean action into their updated climate plans ahead of COP30, ambition is growing—but so is the need for reliable data to translate commitments into measurable progress. We see ocean accounts as essential to meet this challenge: they provide the standardised data foundation countries need to track outcomes, inform decisions, and maintain transparent, effective ocean governance as these commitments unfold.
The GOAP remains committed to supporting countries, through knowledge exchange and technical support, as they develop and implement ocean accounts to meet their national and global commitments.
In exciting regional news, we congratulate IOC-Africa on their election at the recent Africa Community of Practice (ACoP) meeting to coordinate the ACoP alongside the GOAP Secretariat. We extend our appreciation to Prof. Ken Findlay and the team at Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Centre for Sustainable Oceans and Afriseas Solutions, who have led the Africa Community of Practice since 2022.
We welcome the leadership demonstrated by Pacific Islands at the recent Pacific Islands Ocean Conference in the Solomon Islands where participants recognised integrated data systems as critical for delivering on the 2050 Blue Pacific Strategy. During special sessions on ocean accounting for the Blue Pacific, participants from Fiji, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea exchanged practical experiences and lessons learnt in developing ocean accounts, contributing to and advancing the regional knowledge base.
Pacific leadership continued in Fiji with the National Data Systems for Sustainable Development and Technical Workstreams last week. Key government stakeholders convened to align on a comprehensive vision for Fiji’s national data systems to support evidence-based policy and decision making across both ocean and plastic waste management.
GOAP Members and partners continue to drive impact and elevate ocean accounts through national and regional projects and workshops. See the highlights below including Costa Rica’s development of a national ocean accounts roadmap and the continued investment into Indonesia’s Ocean Accounts Taskforce.
As we enter the final quarter of 2025, we invite all GOAP Members and collaborators to share your local, national or regional updates in ocean accounting with the GOAP Secretariat so we can celebrate together.
Happy reading,
- Firdaus Agung, Directorate General for Marine Spatial Management, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Government of Indonesia
- César Viteri Mejia, Senior Economist, Charles Darwin Foundation
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