We would like to let you know that during its 51^st Executive Council Meeting in July 2018, the Member States of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO welcomed the Methodology for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target Indicator 14.3.1. The SDG Target Indicator 14.3.1 calls for "average marine acidity measured at an agreed suite of representative sampling stations". The Methodology provides guidance to scientists and countries about how to carry out measurements following the best practices established by experts in the ocean acidification community, including members of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and IOCCP, and explains how to report the collected information. You can view the accepted Methodology, available in English, French, Spanish and Russian HERE.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development including a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs). Goal 14: Life Below Water, is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources, and consists of 10 targets. Of particular interest to our community is target 14.3: Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through scientific cooperation at all levels.

In order for the global community to meet this target, an international group of experts (including four IOCCP SSG members) was convened under the leadership of IOC-UNESCO to develop a harmonized and agreed indicator framework at the global level, allowing long-term monitoring and data management structures. The activity took into account existing efforts by different groups of countries and organizations, including regional and international agencies, regional commissions, academia, civil society and other relevant international organizations. This was not a trivial task as rigorous assessment of global ecosystem changes due to ocean acidification requires significant technical capacity building in many parts of the planet. In January 2018 the experts met in Paris at the IOC-UNESCO Headquarters to develop the indicator methodology for target 14.3, which was then accepted at the IOC Executive Council.