In 2017, The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO launched the Seabed 2030 Project to support UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 by addressing the urgent need to map the ocean, as only 6% had been adequately mapped at the time.

The lack of detailed bathymetric data hindered sustainable marine resource management and coastal community protection. As KEVIN MACKAY from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research explains, Seabed 2030 aims to source and compile all available seabed mapping data into a comprehensive digital map of the world’s ocean floor by 2030.