15th Environmental Dialogue: Our Oceans – Limits of Balance

The oceans stabilise our climate, provide food for billions of people and are home to unique ecosystems. However, they are under increasing pressure – not only from pollution and climate change, but also increasingly from geopolitical conflicts and the expansion of resource extraction. Rare earths, critical raw materials, fish stocks, trade routes and maritime areas are becoming strategic factors in international power politics.

The sheer size of the oceans, long a guarantee of their resilience, is reaching its limits: states, companies and international organisations are wrestling over rights of use, protection regulations and economic interests. At the same time, there is a growing urgency to safeguard marine biodiversity and ecological balances.

The following questions, among others, will be discussed:

• Why do oceans play a role for a landlocked country like Austria – economically, politically and ecologically?
• How are deep-sea mining, raw material interests and geopolitical tensions changing international maritime policy?
• What political instruments and international agreements exist – and where are their limits?
• How does climate change affect marine ecosystems, and how does the state of the oceans in turn influence the global climate?
• How can scientific findings be translated into concrete political measures and international cooperation?
• What structural changes are necessary to combine sustainable use and effective protection?
• Is there scope for action at the individual level – and where is collective and international action needed?

Key Information

When: June 16, 2026, doors open at 5:30 p.m., start: 6:00 p.m.
Where: Upper Dome Hall, Natural History Museum Vienna, main entrance – Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna
Event language: German

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Program

Welcome

• Katrin Vohland – Director General of the Natural History Museum Vienna
• Nikolaus Hautsch – Vice Rector for Infrastructure at the University of Vienna
• Thilo Hofmann – Co-Director of the Environment and Climate Research Hub at the University of Vienna

Keynote speech

• Alice Vadrot – Professor for International Relations and the Environment at the University of Vienna

Panel discussion with audience participation

• Alice Vadrot – Professor for International Relations and the Environment at the University of Vienna
• Frank Melzner – Professor for Marine Biology at the University of Vienna
• Axel Hein – Ocean-Expert at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Austria
• Annemiek Vink – Marine geobiologist at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)
• Moderation: Marlene Nowotny, Science Editor, Ö1