On 6 December, the EU Blue Parks Community came together for the first time in a workshop, aimed at boosting cooperation for the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems and biodiversity.
It was a successful start for the EU Blue Parks Community, with more than 120 participants online for this first in a series of workshops.
As part of the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030," the EU Blue Parks Community is to become a platform for EU Member State authorities, practitioners, European networks, projects and initiatives to join forces to protect 30% and strictly protect 10% of EU sea areas by 2030. Members of the community will be invited to gather twice per year for physical and virtual workshops, to identify challenges, share tools, solutions and good practices, promote innovative approaches and push forward progress in marine protection in the Mission sea-basins.
The EU’s vision: a community to step up the pace of marine protection
The goal of the EU Blue Parks Community is to enable all stakeholders to act more quickly and more effectively to protect the marine environment. Legislation and international treaties are there, but more is needed to scale things up. The community should speed up the roll-out of innovative solutions and practices so urgently needed to protect and restore our ocean and seas by taking advantages of EU funding allocated via Horizon Europe and synergies of funding with LIFE, INTERREG, EMFAF.
The EU’s ongoing and growing commitment to the protection of the marine environment is reflected in a wide range of projects, funding instruments and policies, including the Mission Ocean and Waters, but also the Green Deal, the proposed Nature Restoration Regulation, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, and the EU Marine Action Plan.
State of play: more and better marine protection needed across Europe
Currently, 12% of EU seas are designated as protected, and less than 1% as strictly protected. Although the situation varies across sea basins, from 8.3% in the Mediterranean Sea to 16.5% in the Baltic Sea, urgent efforts are required from Member States.
The need for more effective management of existing marine protected areas was widely recognised during this workshop. Specific examples arising from the EU Mission Charter and EU-funded projects included: knowledge-sharing, adaptability, local and transnational governance, stakeholders' engagement, law enforcement and surveillance. Real-life experiences need to be shared across sea basins and cohesive frameworks developed at European level, to address these issues. Participants also highlighted the following important questions:
- How to integrate climate change in marine protected areas planning and management?
- How to ensure protection through Maritime Spatial Planning?
- How to consider Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs)?
- How to restore marine ecosystems at large scales?
- How to work on connectivity at sea basin scale?
- Where to protect next?
What’s next for the EU Blue Parks Community?
The community is expected to serve as a dynamic platform for networking, knowledge sharing and partnership in marine conservation, as an active part of the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”.
Save the date for the next workshop, which will be held as a face-to-face event in Brussels on 7 March 2024, alongside the Mission Forum and the European Ocean Week.
Join the EU Blue Parks Community and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of EU marine protection HERE
More information
Mission Ocean and Waters service portal (https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/restore-our-ocean-and-waters/mission-ocean-and-waters-service-portal)
To affirm your engagement for Mission Ocean and Waters, you can also sign the Mission Charter Pledge (https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/restore-our-ocean-and-waters/mission-charter)
Stay up to date on the Mission Ocean and Waters Service Portal actions by signing up to our Newsletter: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/rtd/user-subscriptions/3483/create