A golden decade for ocean science (2021-2030): from knowledge to solutions and actions

'It is planning, it is science, it is management, and it is a huge change of human relations with the ocean.' As introduced by Dr Vladimir Ryabinin, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Executive Secretary and Assistant Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (the Decade, 2021-2030) got underway this January. To echo that, on 14 January 2021, a Special Forum on the Decade was held in hybrid mode as part of the Fifth Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Science (XMAS-V) in Xiamen University, China. The Forum was organized to promote the Decade through insightful talks and in-depth discussions with international and regional representatives who have been actively involved in the planning of the Decade. In addition to Dr Ryabinin, Zhanhai Zhang, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China, gave an inspiring opening speech. What followed were presentations by invited speakers. They then joined a panel discussion chaired by Dr Minhan Dai from Xiamen University. This article is edited and re-organized from the record of this Special Forum.Panellists. First row from left to right: Brandon Justin Bethel (PhD Student of Marine Meteorology at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China), Fei Chai (Professor at University of Maine, USA), Karen Evans (Principal Research Scientist of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Oceans and Atmosphere, Australia), and Fangli Qiao (Senior Scientist at the First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, China). Second row from left to right: Martin Visbeck (Professor and Head of Research Unit, Physical Oceanography at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany), Wenxi Zhu (Head and Programme Specialist of IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC)), and Minhan Dai (Chair, Professor and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, China).