The program with the only internationally recognized mandate to map the entire ocean floor now has a permanent Secretariat. H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco inaugurated the new Secretariat of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) alongside participants in the Council of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

He was joined by Mrs. Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Monaco Government Counselor and Minister; Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO; IHO Secretary-General Rear Admiral Luigi Sinapi; and IHO Directors Dr. John Nyberg and Mr. Adam Greenland.

The new Secretariat answers a long-standing need for a central body to coordinate seabed mapping initiatives around the world and speed up progress.

Two Organizations, One Shared Mandate

GEBCO operates under the joint auspices of the IOC and the IHO. This partnership provides the only internationally recognized mandate to map the whole ocean floor, and GEBCO’s 2024–2030 Strategy is built to support the missions of both parent organizations.

As the UN’s lead body for ocean science, the IOC ensures that seabed mapping feeds directly into global knowledge, informs policy, strengthens ocean governance, and supports sustainable development. Its mission is to promote international cooperation and coordinate programs in research, services, and capacity development, so that knowledge of the ocean is applied to better management, protection of the marine environment, and decision-making in all coastal states.

That role extends through the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), which the IOC leads. GEBCO’s flagship initiative, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, is formally endorsed as a Decade Action.

“The ocean is a symbol of eternity, yet it remains a constant source of novelty. New findings continue to emerge, while the ocean itself is always changing and regenerating. The new GEBCO Secretariat represents a new phase in ocean exploration, one marked by greater ambition, stronger institutional collaboration, and deeper connection with the global ocean community. This will enable us to better understand and monitor these ongoing changes,” said Vidar Helgesen, Executive Secretary of the IOC.

Why the Shape of the Seabed Matters

Knowing how deep the ocean is, and what its floor looks like, underpins almost everything we do at sea: scientific research, marine spatial planning, tsunami early warning systems, environmental management, and the sustainable use of ocean resources. In a 2025 policy brief, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) described seabed mapping as a foundational pillar of the future ocean economy.

Progress is real. According to the 2026 GEBCO global grid, released in April, 28.7% of the ocean floor is now mapped, around 104 million square kilometers, more than two-thirds of the Earth’s land surface. Some 220 organizations have contributed data so far. Yet most of the seabed remains to be charted to modern standards.

Co-located in the IHO offices in Monaco, the Secretariat gives GEBCO a dedicated team to support its growing range of activities and long-term goals. Its main tasks will be to:

• develop global mapping initiatives and help deliver the GEBCO vision to “bring knowledge about our planet’s seabed to everyone”;

• help shape a policy environment that makes seabed mapping and ocean data sharing easier;

• build funding partnerships to finance mapping initiatives.

The Government of Monaco will fund the Secretariat for an initial three years. Mr Sam Harper, Assistant Director at the IHO, will serve as Head of the GEBCO Secretariat.

From Prince Albert I to the Ocean Decade

GEBCO’s story began in Monaco. In the early twentieth century, Prince Albert I, navigator and man of science, noticed how little was known about the ocean in many parts of the world. At his initiative, the first GEBCO charts were published in 1903, largely based on data from his own oceanographic campaigns.

Over the following decades, new survey technologies and growing international cooperation turned GEBCO into a global seabed mapping program under the joint leadership of the IHO and the IOC. Its current strategy sets ambitious goals, including doubling global ocean mapping capacity and producing free, open, and complete seabed data for the world’s ocean.

Rear Admiral Sinapi expressed his hope that the Secretariat will become “a beacon of international cooperation, scientific excellence and shared ambition,” and that Monaco will remain the place where the world’s commitment to ocean knowledge finds both inspiration and direction. “The future of our oceans is inseparable from the future of humanity,” he said.