Over 100 experts and scholars from more than 10 countries cast a spotlight on international marine cooperation at a recent five-day conference on marginal seas in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Marginal seas are sea areas located at the edges of continents, separated from the open ocean by peninsulas, islands or archipelagos, and connected to the ocean via straits or channels. They record global climate change, play a key role in biodiversity, and are rich in fishery, oil, gas and mineral resources.

The 2025 international Marine Geology: Marginal Seas -- Past and Future conference was hosted by the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey and concluded on Saturday. It explored ways to strengthen marine cooperation between China and the world, and was themed "Marginal Seas -- Sustainable Future of the Continent/Ocean Interface."

Zhang Huodai, a senior engineer for the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, said that Chinese equipment such as the Mengxiang (Dream) ocean drilling vessel is advancing marine geological research.

Jan Harff, a professor at the University of Szczecin in Poland, said that marginal seas have faced increasing threats from rising sea levels, coastal erosion and the overexploitation of resources in recent years. He stressed the urgent need to enhance international and interdisciplinary cooperation to achieve the sustainable management of marginal seas and coastal zones.

A key outcome of the conference was a consensus to upgrade the international Eurasian Marginal Seas: Past and Future scientific research initiative.

Under the leadership of the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, which is a part of the China Geological Survey, the initiative was launched by 18 experts from seven countries in 2019. It has to date involved the participation of experts from over 50 institutions across 30 countries, becoming one of the largest scientific initiatives launched in the field of marine geoscience in recent years.

Its research zone covers offshore areas along the margins of the Eurasia supercontinent. By leveraging existing and newly acquired geoscientific marine data from key countries, and supported by mathematical geological technologies and expertise, it aims to address critical environmental geology issues.