Marine Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

　　In this document, we focus on Chinese roadmap to 2050 on research and development of marine science and technology under the principle of three combinations, including combination of major national need with forefront of scientific development, combination of fundamental research with technical capacity-building, and combination of forward-looking layout with scientific feasibility. By analyzing the needs of the national development of marine science and technology, the international forefront and the trends, and the status, opportunities and challenges and major scientific issues of China’s marine science and technology development, we laid emphasis upon marine environment and security, marine ecosystems security, marine biological resources, marine energy and mineral resources, marine observation technology, sea water resource and sustainable development of coastal areas. On the basis of our analyzing results, we prospect and foresee the trend and route of the development of marine science and technology to 2050 in China, with clear outlines of China’s urgent issues in marine science and technology; propose the strategy and the goals at different phases. With the above analysis, we put forward a general roadmap of marine scientific and technological development with specific plan suggestions in related areas.

　　China’s marine economy in recent years shows a trend of rapid development, especially in the new industries based on high technology. Sustainable development, transformation and upgrading of the traditional marine industries require for knowledge and technology innovation. Rapid development of emerging marine industries depends on major breakthroughs in marine high-tech. National demands for energy and strategic mineral resources are promoting exploitation of abundant oil and gas resources, energy, and mineral resources. Social development, including the survival and development of coastal residents, offshore protection and pollution control, marine disaster prevention and forecasting, and coastal zone sustainable development, requires more understanding of marine science and technology at higher level. In recent years, the sovereignty of China in some regions of the East China Sea and the South China Sea is under challenge. It is an important task for China to safeguard the sovereignty over the waters using marine science and technology in a long time ahead.

　　Internationally, countries have introduced, one after another, new marine development strategies in ocean science and technology. The United States implemented the Ocean Action Plan, a roadmap for development of marine science and technology in the next decade; the United Kingdom put forward the Ocean Research Program for 2025 (Oceans 2025) for the implementation of all-round development of marine science and technology, taking the lead in marine development and utilization of new energy technologies; Canada has also implemented her Ocean Action Plan, and will focus on the Arctic sea in the future; Japan launched the “Basic Plan on Ocean Policy”, a comprehensive strategy to promote its maritime power; Russia wants to resume her maritime power status, forging a maritime power in military and ocean-shipping with marine science and technology. China’s neighbors including Vietnam, India, and South Korea have also launched their own ambitious maritime strategy.

　　Since the 1980’s, with the development of marine science and technology, international organizations and many countries have launched a series of large-scale ocean research and observation programs, such as Climate Observation and Prediction of the Earth System (COPES), Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ), Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC), the Land-Ocean Interaction in the Coastal Zone-II (LOICZ-II), the Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Research (IMBER), the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the Census of Marine Life (CoML ), the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), Array for Real-time Geotropic Oceanography (ARGO), the Global Ocean Carbon Observing System (GOCOS), the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODNET), and European Sea Floor Observatory Network (ESONET) and so on. We can see the international trends and forefronts of marine science and technology development by viewing from the development and evolution of these research projects.

　　Under such an international marine science and technology development background, great progresses have been made in marine fields via the implementations of China’s major and key projects, such as the National Basic Research Program of China (the “973” Program), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (the “863” Program), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and other special national projects. With the enhancement of country’s comprehensive economic strength, the marine science and technology will be given high priority by the government with gradual increase of financial support. In addition, with the establishment of foundation for the development of innovation in marine science and technology, China will see opportunities of rapid development in marine science and technology. Meanwhile, China will also face a number of challenges: the overall level of the marine science and technology is to be enhanced; the scientific research is in a crucial period of change from follow-up to innovation; technical development lag can not meet the needs of rapid development of marine scientific research; institutional mechanisms can not adapt to the needs of rapid development of marine science and technology; investments into science and technology are still insufficient; and the overall level of human resources of research is to be improved urgently.

　　The guiding ideology of China to 2050 for the development of marine science and technology is, to consider the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of national economy, society and technology, with the focuses on the needs of national economic, social development guided by the Scientific Concept of Development, closely surrounding the needs of national economic and social development and marine rights for marine science and technology, and taking “protect rights and interests, increase wealth, maintain health, apply safely, and develop rapidly” as the guideline for development; aiming at the national needs at different stages to break the shackles of the traditional framework; focusing on the major marine science and technology issues of China and the world in current and the future period of time and adhere to the principle of “to combine major national needs with cutting-edge of scientific development, basic theoretical research with technical capacity-building, and forward-looking layout with scientific feasibility”; taking “Demand-oriented problem solving, leading in promising fields with own advantages, people-centered team building, long-term planning and overall arrangement” as the strategy; expecting and forecasting the development of marine science and technology in the future 40 years, putting forward major scientific and technological problems and their solutions, and realizing the China’s marine science and technology strategic objectives in 2020, 2030 and 2050 with a clear developmental route.

　　The goals of development to 2050 in China are that the marine science and technology in ability and achievements will achieve the level of advanced countries in the world, not only serving for building China into a maritime power, but also contributing greatly to the world’s sustainable use of marine resources and the health and safety of the oceans. In specific, in the field of marine environment and its security: to establish advantages in research into the air-land-sea interaction in the triangle area of western Pacific–eastern Indian Ocean–Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and into the offshore circulation off China, and to establish a regional advantage of in situ observation and numerical simulation in relevant sea area. In the field of marine ecosystems and its security: to enhance the observation capacity in coastal ecosystems and exploration ability in deep-sea, to deepen the awareness of major marine processes of biology and ecology, and to improve the understanding of natural and human disasters and their prediction capability, providing scientific guidance for establishing sustainable ecosystem-based oceans management and development models, ensuring stabile marine food output, and clean, healthy, and stable marine environment, and building up a secured marine ecosystems. In the field of the marine bio-resources: aiming at China’s strategic objectives of sustainable development and utilization and major energy-saving emission-reduction technology needs, to develop and use deeply and efficiently the marine bio-resources, fisheries resources, marine biomaterial-based chemical resources, marine microbial resources, and marine life genetic resources, to realize innovation and breakthrough in marine biotechnology and marine resources, meeting China’s demands in economic and social development, and promoting China’s sustainable development and utilization of marine bio-resources. In the field of marine oil-gas and mineral resources: to enhance the exploration and resource evaluation capacity of marine oil-gas and mineral resources, to deepen the understanding of mineralization and formation of marine oil-gas reservoir in the seabed, and to improve the ability of locating marine oil and gas and mineral resources, providing scientific guidance for exploration, development and utilization of offshore oil and gas and mineral resources. In the sea water resources: to solve problems of fresh-water shortage in islands and coastal regions, to industrialize fresh-water production by desalinizing sea-water at low cost, to support sea water based chemical industry in sustainable manner, and to realize large-scale use of rare strategic resources, making sea water resources utilization as a major socio-economic industry in China.

　　According to the above objectives, we drew this roadmap of development in marine science and technology and in the related sub-fields. The following measures must be taken to achieve our objectives: 1) to develop high technology, and to realize coordinated marine economic, environmental, and social development; 2) to change institutional mechanisms for innovation and creation, to strengthen domestic collaboration in science and technology, and promote all-round development; 3) to increase fund input into marine science and technology, strengthen the infrastructure reconstruction, and to enhance the supporting capability; 4) to strengthen the “Talents, Patents and Standards,” the three major strategies, and to promote technological innovation; 5) to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation to improve the ability to lead the development; 6) to enhance ocean observing ability to achieve the sharing of marine data; 7) to strengthen the building of technology platform and base, and to upgrade the capacities of R&D and industrialization; 8) to implement the Ocean Action Plan, and to carry out long-term observation for research; 9) to strengthen the promotion of marine sciences, and to create the atmosphere of maritime power.