December 20, 2014

A draft of the first World Ocean Assessment (WOA) opened for review by registered experts on December 20. The WOA stems from the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, where the United Nations established a systematic review of the state of the world’s oceans from economic, environmental, and social perspectives. The 2015 assessment is the first to be completed, and in the future they will be conducted every five years. Comments will be accepted until February 6, 2015.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, United Nations