The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO has officially joined the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) as an institutional partner.
The strategic alliance aims to bridge the gap between ocean science and the global financial sector.
By combining technical expertise with innovative investment tools, the partnership seeks to unlock at least $500 million in coastal and marine natural capital by 2030.
ORRAA and the IOC will work together to reduce investor uncertainty by creating new insurance products and risk-modeling tools.
Resilience:
The mission focuses on the most climate-vulnerable regions, particularly small island developing states (SIDS) and low-lying coastal areas. The investment is designed to build the resilience of 250 million people who are directly threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather. This collaboration will prioritize nature-based solutions—such as mangrove restoration and coral reef protection—that act as natural buffers while supporting local blue economies.
Despite the ocean’s critical role in climate regulation, ocean finance remains one of the least funded sustainable development goals (SDG 14).
Aligning with the ocean decade:
The partnership directly supports the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). By integrating the IOC’s scientific leadership into ORRAA’s finance-driven ecosystem, the alliance will incubate scalable tools that link risk analytics to blended finance. This synergy is intended to move the global technical limbo into a phase of actionable, high-impact deal-making for a sustainable blue future.
