GloNoise, a global project set-up to tackle underwater noise from shipping has been authorised by its board to continue until December 2026.
The project aims to support the IMO Guidelines for the Reduction of Underwater Noise from Commercial Shipping for the purposes of reducing harm to marine life.
Representatives from 34 countries met, alongside officials from the UN system (including IMO Officials), to review the project’s yearly progress, work plan, and budget, and they approved the extension.
Member States also highlighted concrete actions taken over the past year to address URN threats, ranging from acoustic research and data collection to stakeholder engagement, policy reforms and awareness raising.
National efforts in the spotlight
- Argentina: Coordinated by Prefectura Naval Argentina, two working groups on hydroacoustics and ship design engage stakeholders to advance hydrophone-based measurements, propeller efficiency upgrades, engine room insulation and a national URN data repository.
- Chile integrates URN into the country’s marine environmental and spatial planning, coordinating among port, inspection and biodiversity agencies. It supports regional collaboration to share knowledge and align monitoring across Latin America.
- Costa Rica hosted a workshop in May to bring together ports, NGOs and academia, linking URN to national and regional ocean protection efforts. Costa Rica strongly supported regional peer learning and knowledge-sharing among Spanish-speaking countries.
- India is adapting the GloNoise toolkit for ports and integrating URN into maritime and coastal planning, as noted in its MEPC 82 submission. It is enhancing monitoring capacity through academic partnerships and remains committed to advancing South-South cooperation for science-based solutions.
- South Africa has engaged fisheries, academia and indigenous communities on URN efforts, coordinated under ‘Operation Phakisa’ with support from the Navy for acoustic research. The country plans to pilot real-time measurement tools, share data and best practices with IMO and promote regional exchange.
- Trinidad and Tobago launched high school trainings on URN and a national awareness brochure. The country called for practical solutions for Small Island Developing States as well as regional data-sharing across the Caribbean.
GloNoise focuses on four key areas to tackle underwater noise. These areas are:
- developing a global toolkit and conducting policy analysis;
- capacity building and raising awareness in participating developing countries;
- fostering partnerships for mitigating underwater radiated noise (URN) from shipping, and
- monitoring, learning, adaptive feedback, and evaluation.
The Global Partnership for Mitigation of Underwater Noise from Shipping (GloNoise Partnership) project is part of broader efforts by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF),
