UWI climate professor helps guide UN World Ocean Assessment

Professor Donovan Campbell of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), a leading specialist in climate and sustainability, contributed at a senior level to the United Nations’ Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), a wide-ranging international review of the state of the ocean.

The assessment was released on World Oceans Day, June 8, 2026. WOA III is described as the only worldwide review that examines the marine environment in its full scope. More than 580 scientists and specialists from 86 countries took part in the process.

The report is intended to give governments, policy leaders and international bodies a reliable evidence base for decisions affecting marine and coastal matters. Professor Campbell was among 25 experts who led the work, helping to shape the overall direction and provide scientific oversight.

“It was a tremendous honour to help steer a process of such global importance,” Professor Campbell said. “What sets WOA III apart is that it treats the ocean as a single connected system, weighing its environmental health alongside the economies and societies that depend on it. That is the only way to see clearly what is at stake and what must be done.”

WOA III points to worsening ocean challenges across the world, among them warmer seas, harm to marine habitats, shifts in fisheries, higher sea levels and heavier pressure on coastal populations. It also underlines the importance of policy grounded in science, protection of ecosystems, responsible use of resources and deeper cooperation between countries.

The conclusions carry special weight for Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. Tourism, fisheries, shipping, coastal construction and newer blue economy activities across the region all rely heavily on healthy marine systems.

Caribbean countries also face some of the sharpest ocean-related climate threats, including the loss of coral reefs, erosion along the coast, stronger tropical cyclones and rising seas.

“The Caribbean has a profound stake in the future of the ocean,” Professor Campbell noted. “For Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States, ocean sustainability is an economic, social, and developmental imperative. The assessment reinforces the need for evidence-based policy, stronger ocean governance, sustainable ocean planning, and sustained investment in resilience, conservation, and sustainable ocean industries.”

As governments work toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, WOA III is expected to be used over the next 10 years by policymakers, researchers, development agencies and international organisations.

Professor Campbell is Professor of Geography at The UWI Mona Campus and currently serves as Director of the Western Jamaica Campus. His climate and sustainability work centres on climate action and social equity, with partnerships involving Caribbean communities and governments to support climate-resilient approaches for sustainable development.

His role in WOA III also reflects The UWI’s ongoing participation in major international science and policy work, especially in climate change, ocean sustainability and sustainable development.