Co-designed Research Partnerships to Bridge the Gap Between Marine Research, Policy, and Management: The MeerWissen Initiative

“Cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and to enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms” is among the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 17 with the overarching goal to “strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”. In designing North−South partnership projects in the past, the priorities set by the Global North as the dominant funding partner have sometimes led to disparities that limit the applicability of project outcomes for policymaking toward sustainable development in countries of the Global South. This paper describes an African German initiative focusing on Ocean Knowledge − the MeerWissen Initiative − which addresses this issue of disparity by designing multi-stakeholder partnership projects focusing on a solutions-based scientific process that generates new ocean knowledge, as well as stimulating dialogue and transfer of knowledge at the science–policy interface. With its focus on the ocean, the MeerWissen Initiative contributes to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) (Ocean Decade).