• Climate Variability and Climate Change: origin, trends and impacts of global climate change on all sectors and possible adaptations to reduce or mitigate impacts and take advantage of opportunities. Addresses temperature changes, sea level rise, ice changes, currents, storminess, disease, algal blooms, impacts, adaptations, outlook for the future, and research and governance institutions.
• Economics: economic issues, and institutions. Includes economic yield and rent, poverty reduction, investment, profitability, economic incentives and disincentives, projections
• Emergencies: dramatic and mostly unexpected events negatively affecting ocean activities, includes harmful algal blooms, storms, hurricanes, icebergs, tsunamis, warning and aid institutions, research foci, projections, outlook for the future
• Food Security: all aspects related to access and availability of seafood from capture fisheries or aquaculture and related problems including poverty; contains information on aquaculture, fisheries precautionary approach, catch trends & projections, institutions, enforcement, future
• Governance: contains frameworks, institutions and processes involved in Law of the Sea and other policy development and implementation (including enforcement, performance assessments, indicators) and related aspects such as information on national, regional and international policies, relating to ocean uses, laws and regulations, legislation, including legislative bodies, fishing use rights, jurisdictions, illegal fishing activities, monitoring and surveillance, CZM (Coastal Zone Management), Law of the Sea, rules & institutions, territorial waters, dispute resolution, enforcement, trends
• Human Health: includes all ocean-related phenomena issues of relevance to human health such as algal blooms, pollution, water-borne diseases, food quality and contamination, invasive species introductions, contingency planning, crowding, environmental modification, dredging, institutions, research foci, and outlook for the future
• Pollution and Degradation: describes negative modifications of the oceans environment, information on pollution and degradation, various uses and problems associated with their limitation and mitigation, ocean dumping, food safety, atmosphere-borne, nutrient loading, non-point source, impacts, controls, research foci, enforcement, outlook for the future
  
• Safety: addresses safety at sea, accidents, storms, safety standards and includes institutions, research foci and projections
  
• Sustainable Development: covers all issues related to sustainable and responsible conduct in using the oceans; includes legal and policy issues, indicators, status and trends, institutions, research foci, management techniques and projections

Each of these topics includes background information, UN agency programme roles, legal and policy frameworks, institutions, research needs, and an assessment of what the future holds.