Goal 14: Life Below Water

Goal: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

UGA is working to address UN Sustainable Development Goals through focused research, teaching, service, and stewardship on campus, across the state, and around the globe. Some examples of how students, faculty, and staff are addressing Goal #14 are listed below.

Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant

UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant provides research, education, training, and science-based outreach to assist Georgia in solving problems and realizing opportunities for its coastal and marine environments. By advancing research, education and training, and outreach, UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant promotes the economic, cultural, and environmental health of Georgia’s coast.

Department of Marine Sciences

The expertise and research interests of faculty and students in the Department of Marine Sciences span the oceanographic disciplines, covering the biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes within the world’s oceans. Its faculty are housed on the UGA main campus in Athens and at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah.

Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet

UGA, along with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is co-leading a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center that will pursue and promote a deeper understanding of the microbial worlds and chemical processes that swirl throughout the Earth’s oceanic ecosystems.

Marine Debris Tracker

Jenna Jambeck, a professor in the College of Engineering, is internationally recognized for her research on plastic waste in the ocean and for the Debris Tracker app she co-created with fellow faculty member Kyle Johnsen. She led a landmark study, published in Science, that estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the world’s ocean every year.