World Conference on Marine Biodiversity

Submissions for oral presentations and posters related to the themes and sessions of the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2026 are now open. All presentations (oral and poster) should be submitted to a session corresponding with your topic. Only one preferred session can be chosen. If you cannot find a session that is appropriate for your abstract, you can consider submitting it under the overall "general" session.

One overarching theme, seven sub-themes and no less than forty sessions. This is what the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2026 is offering. This wide range of topics almost certainly guarantees a match with your own work, be it purely scientific, policy-related, conservation-driven or about inspiring the next ocean generation.

1. Challenges to achieve UN Ocean Decade goals

By November 2026, we will be a little over the halfway point of the UN Ocean Decade. An excellent time to take stock of accomplishments, as well as identifying and tackling the challenges that remain to achieve the UN Ocean Decade goals by 2030.

2. Marine biodiversity: it’s all about the baselines and trends

This theme is open to all sessions related to the broader, global picture of marine biodiversity and how our (species) knowledge affects the way we protect our ocean and how this influences conservation & restoration management, as well as policy decisions and how it can serve as a measure for future needs.

3. Building e-oceans to help us filling our knowledge gaps

In a digital era, the possibilities to study and model the ocean and its inhabitants have become endless. The field of bioinformatics has grown exponentially over the last 20 years, leading to several well-established e-infrastructures, global databases and digital twins of the ocean. In addition, innovative techniques for species descriptions or biodiversity studies, using high-tech equipment have increased our understanding of marine biodiversity.

4. Marine biodiversity enthusiasts for the future: who are they, where do they come from and what drives them?

Safeguarding marine biodiversity for the future starts now, by training the next generation of marine scientists, as well as educating the general public on the importance of our ocean and what lives beneath its surface.

5. Challenges and opportunities in marine taxonomic research: from specimens to genes

This theme focusses on taxonomy, which is at the very heart of our knowledge on marine biodiversity. It is not just about descriptions, but also about the parallel challenges taxonomists are facing: on one hand keeping up with the current rate of species discoveries, and on the other hand making sure that so called ‘shelf species’ are not forgotten. How is the taxonomic impediment reflected in the current generation of taxonomists ?

6. Science that makes a difference: supporting knowledge-based policies

Within this theme, the focus will be on organizations, initiatives, projects and people that work in the interface of science, policy and society. How can scientists and policy makers better assist and learn from each other ? How can the science-policy interface enrich the decision-making processes and shape people’s awareness and understanding of problems ?

7. Taking the pulse of the ocean: measuring the current marine biodiversity state and how it impacts us

This theme is open to all monitoring programs, networks and activities, to share their history, progress, status and lessons learnt. Above all, we want to know how their work has impacted our knowledge of the marine environment and how they see themselves moving forward, discussing technological innovations to monitor marine biodiversity, and how different monitoring programs can interact with each other to improve data interoperability. Submit abstract here: https://form.vliz.be/en/WCMB2026_AbstractSubmission