At the ‘Our Ocean’ conference in Palau on Thursday 14 April, the EU renewed its commitment to international ocean governance with a package supporting projects worth €1 billion.
By presenting a list of 44 commitments for the period 2020-2022, worth almost €1 billion, the EU has made its most significant commitments in terms of value ever announced at an ‘Our Ocean’ conference.
EUROPE has previously published the list of commitments (see EUROPE 12897/16).
Almost €500 million over the period 2021-2023 will be dedicated to the ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ mission. This will contribute to the EU’s objectives of protecting 30% of Member States’ maritime areas, restoring marine ecosystems and preventing and eliminating pollution by reducing plastic waste at sea.
The ‘Our Ocean’ conference attracted global partners to identify solutions to sustainably manage marine resources, increase the resilience of the ocean to climate change and preserve its health for future generations.
The Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “The sum the EU is committing today is significant, but not as significant as the role that the ocean plays. It provides us clean air, regulates the climate, hosts a large part of biodiversity on Earth and is key for our economy. The ocean is bringing all these benefits to us and we need to protect it. Our future depends upon it”.
The EU has made commitments covering different themes (marine protected areas, tackling marine pollution, the climate and fisheries). It has also developed a tool for citizens to check on the progress of the implementation of commitments made to protect the oceans.
The EU contributed to the ‘One Ocean Summit’ in Brest in February (see EUROPE 12889/1) and will participate in the next UN Ocean Conference (June-July, in Lisbon). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)