OceanEye Alliance Secures Pledges to Close Critical Gaps in Ocean Observations

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney officially launched the alliance at a high-level pledging event at UN Headquarters in New York.

The ocean influences the weather that shapes harvests, water supplies and people's safety, making reliable observations essential for countries far beyond the coastline. A new international alliance launched during the 81st United Nations General Assembly is bringing governments together to strengthen the systems that collect and share this information. The OceanEye International Alliance for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) has secured commitments worth more than CAD $339 million (€211 million), supporting a global network facing funding uncertainty and serious gaps in coverage.

Governments pledge funding, vessels and technology

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney officially launched the alliance at a high-level pledging event at UN Headquarters in New York. Organised in partnership with UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the gathering brought together national leaders and ministers to support observations essential for safe navigation, weather forecasting, climate predictions, coastal resilience, protection of the high seas and economic activity. The European Union had announced the alliance in March 2026 as part of its OceanEye initiative to strengthen observations, access to ocean information and international cooperation.

The EU and Canada, serving as alliance co-chairs, announced substantial commitments, with the EU pledging an additional €92 million for ocean observation activities and Canada committing CAD $82 million over five years to expand its observation capabilities. The overall support includes financial contributions, practical assistance and assets such as research vessels, sensors, drones and data-processing facilities. Von der Leyen described observations as providing eyes and ears beneath the waves, connecting better information with ocean protection. Carney stressed that sharing measurements creates an understanding of the ocean that no country could achieve alone.

Missing measurements leave countries exposed

GOOS coordinates around 120,000 observations every day through 8,000 platforms operated by 64 countries and 17 global observation networks, helping governments understand the ocean's condition, health and changes. Led by IOC-UNESCO and co-sponsored by WMO, the UN Environment Programme and the International Science Council, the system supplies information underpinning weather forecasts, early warnings and long-term climate monitoring, and helps verify satellite measurements. Maritime transport, global trade, ocean industries, coastal communities and marine biodiversity depend on this information, making sustained observations a matter of economic security and public protection.

A shortage of dependable, long-term investment is putting this infrastructure and its coordination at risk, with a particularly concerning gap in the tropical Pacific. No near-equatorial moored buoys are currently operating west of 165 degrees East, leaving a critical stretch of the western Pacific warm pool without a fixed observing presence. That region helps shape El Niño and La Niña, which influence rainfall and drought around the world. Forecasts and warnings for tropical cyclones, severe precipitation and extreme heat depend on real-time ocean measurements, and the Southern Ocean, polar regions and deep ocean need much stronger observation coverage.

Long-term support must reach the whole network

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasised that measurements collected far out at sea help countries anticipate conditions affecting food production, water supplies and safety, giving people more time to prepare. IOC Executive Secretary Vidar Helgesen described strengthening GOOS as a governance challenge requiring investment, government cooperation and a system countries can sustain. The pledges will support maintenance of existing platforms, expanded observation capacity, closure of critical data gaps, a stronger GOOS Secretariat and global coordination, reinforcement of the OceanOPS technical centre, and better data management and compatibility between systems. Securing long-term funding and reliable, open and free access to ocean data are central commitments.

The alliance has 31 members: Canada, the EU, Angola, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Namibia, Palau, Portugal, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, the Faroe Islands and the United Kingdom. Its launch begins a broader effort to gather support through 2026–2028 and beyond, with further opportunities for financial and in-kind pledges at COP31 and the 12th Our Ocean Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Maintaining that support will be essential to keeping observations available to coastal and landlocked nations alike.