The eighth meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Polar and Ocean Science and Technology (OPST) was held from 12 to 14 August 2026 in Goa, India. The event was organized by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) under the auspices of the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences and was held under India's 2026 BRICS Chairmanship.

The BRICS OPST Working Group was established in 2018 to promote scientific cooperation, knowledge exchange, capacity building, and joint research among member countries. The program's primary goal is to unite BRICS countries in the fields of science, technology, and innovation.

The meeting was attended by leading scientists, experts, and government representatives from Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, China, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

Tatyana Gorbunova, PhD in Geosciences and Senior Researcher at the Landscape Ecology and Geomatics Laboratory at A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Southern Sea Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke on behalf of the Russian delegation. In her report, she mentioned major Russian institutes that are leaders in both domestic and global ocean and polar research: the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Southern Sea Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute.

The expert emphasized that the research conducted and technologies developed within these institutes open up new opportunities for science, ecology, and shipping. Specifically, the sea surface monitoring system developed by IO RAS scientists, which utilizes standard ship navigation radars, is capable of measuring key wind wave parameters in real time with high accuracy. Currently, six vessels are equipped with this system, ensuring efficient data collection at minimal cost. Tatyana Gorbunova also noted the National System for Monitoring Climate-Active Substances created at IO RAS, the work being carried out to assess the pollution of the World Ocean by microplastics and petroleum products resulting from man-made accidents, numerical modeling of ocean circulation processes, the impact of river runoff on Arctic seas, and the study of river plumes.

Touching on the topic of environmental impact assessment, the scientist drew attention to the research of Russia's oldest marine biology center, A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Southern Sea Biology of RAS, which is responsible for studying marine ecosystems and developing specialized methodology and a regulatory framework for monitoring the environmental status of water areas.

Concluding his speech on behalf of the Russian delegation, Roman Gorbunov, Director of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Doctor of Geographical Sciences, noted the need to develop joint research activities and proposed implementing practical steps aimed at establishing strong partnerships between scientific organizations of the BRICS member countries.