Building Bridges for Ocean Sustainability: The Evolution and Impact of the Early Career Ocean Professional (ECOP) Programme

7 pages, 2 figuresSince its endorsement as a global network Programme in June 2021, the Early Career Ocean Professional (ECOP) Programme has been instrumental in supporting ocean professionals worldwide through funding, training, networking opportunities, and career development initiatives. Rooted in the vision of elevating diverse perspectives, the ECOP Programme fosters knowledge exchange between experienced professionals and ECOPs to promote ocean sustainability. As the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) enters its fourth year of implementation, the ECOP Programme has grown and diversified to a formidable extent, both geographically and thematically. With over 5,200 ECOPs from 151 countries and overseas territories, the global ECOP community is currently dispersed across five regional nodes and more than 40 national hubs. This commentary brings some of the most active ECOP nodes into the limelight, amplifying their collective efforts to better understand, engage, and empower the next generation of ocean professionals across different cultural contexts. This is also an opportunity to showcase the successes, milestones, and challenges that ECOP nodes have encountered over the past 2 years, including on thematic priorities such as communications and outreach, capacity development, and ocean literacy. Moving forward, the ECOP Programme aims to further expand geographically, enhance funding capacities, deepen capacity development efforts, and promote greater awareness of the UN Ocean Decade ecosystem and its vast portfolio of endorsed Actions. As the next generation of ocean professionals will inherit our interconnected ocean beyond 2030, building trust, transferring knowledge, and taking true ownership of the global ocean agenda are paramountWith the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe