EU | European Green Deal call

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This article was first published on the European Commission’s website.

 

The Green Deal call will mobilise research and innovation to foster a just and sustainable societal transition aiming at ‘leaving nobody behind’.

Projects are expected to deliver tangible and visible results relatively quickly and show how research and innovation can provide concrete solutions for the Green Deal main priorities.

This is why the call will support

  • pilot applications, demonstration projects and innovative products
  • innovation for better governance of the green and digital transition
  • social and value chain innovation

In addition to technological development and demonstration, the call encourages experimentation and social innovation for new ways to engage civil society and empower citizens.

In relation to the current pandemic, the call will contribute to the green and digital recovery and to increasing societal resilience for example in agriculture, biodiversity acceleration of renewables, clean transport and modernisation towards a clean and circular industry.

 

More information on the European Commission’s website.

EU | What’s next for the future of our ocean? EU launches consultation on international ocean governance

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This article was published first in DG MARE’s website on the 15/07/2020.

The European Commission and the European External Action Service have launched a targeted consultation to assess development needs and options for the EU’s international ocean governance agenda.

Ocean governance concerns the international and regional processes, agreements, rules and institutions that allow the international community to coordinate and work together  for conservation and sustainable use at sea, where challenges cannot be tackled by one country alone.

The consultation aims to identify relevant actions in light of today’s challenges and opportunities to deliver global sustainability objectives for oceans in particular the Sustainable Development Goal on the oceans (SDG14) under the 2030 Agenda in support of the European Green Deal.

High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell said: “The protection of our oceans is a global challenge that requires a collective response. The European Union is doing its part and ready to do more. We are determined to continue to fulfil our responsibility towards our citizens and to work with partners across the world. We all want sustainable and healthy oceans and to improve their governance.”

Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries said: “The EU is fully committed to promoting ocean governance. We are a reliable partner in strengthening the international framework, a top donor in building capacity, a strong supporter of ocean science and a business partner for the sustainable ‘blue economy’. This consultation will help the EU to lead on delivering of global sustainability objectives for the ocean.”

Background

The European Commission and the European External Action Service adopted the international ocean governance agenda in 2016 to promote an effective and coherent EU contribution towards healthy, clean, secure, safe and sustainably managed oceans. The agenda identified 50 actions to improve the international framework, reduce pressures, facilitate a sustainable blue economy, and strengthen international ocean research and data.

A progress report published in March 2019 confirmed timely delivery of most actions and confirmed the agenda’s value for concerted and targeted EU action. In light of the growing scientific evidence that further action is needed to tackle ocean challenges including climate change and the rapid loss of marine biodiversity, EU Member States expressed their support to follow-up and further develop the international ocean governance agenda in the Council Conclusions on Oceans and Seas adopted in November 2019.

The consultation will help to:

  1. re-examine the EU’s role in strengthening international ocean governance;
  2. re-examine the three priorities of the current agenda and its goals and actions; and
  3. identify new policy areas or actions to tackle existing or emerging challenges

Stakeholders within and beyond Europe including public authorities, international organisations, NGOs, financial institutions, academic, scientific, social and economic partners are encouraged to participate.

The consultation complements the International Ocean Governance Forum, launched with a virtual event on 22-24 April 2020, to support follow-up and development of the agenda. The next meeting of the forum will take place in Brussels, 14-16 December 2020.

Have your say until 15 October 2020

EU | Sustainable fisheries: Cooperation with Mauritania continues

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This article was published first in DG MARE’s website on the 09/07/2020. 

The EU is actively promoting sustainable fisheries around the world. In this context, the EU has on 7 July extended the protocol to the existing Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for one year.

The protocol promotes responsible fishing and sustainable management of fishing resources, including enhanced transparency measures. The extension ensures continuity in cooperation and further progress towards sustainable fishing.

The fisheries partnership agreement with Mauritania is the biggest mixed agreement for the EU both in financial terms and in terms of fishing opportunities. Under the current framework with Mauritania, the EU fleet is authorised to fish in Mauritanian waters for shrimp, demersal fish, tuna and small pelagics, up to around 287,000 tonnes per year. In addition to the fees paid by the European fleet, the EU pays a financial contribution of €61,625,000 per year, including over €4,000,000 to support the fisheries policy in Mauritania, in particular the improvement of research and fisheries governance.

Despite intentions to agree a new protocol, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the initial planning for the negotiations. The parties considered a one-year extension of the current protocols to be the most pragmatic approach to avoid interruption in the activity of Union fishing vessels in Mauritanian waters. The extensions will be on the same terms as the current ones, with identical fishing opportunities for EU vessels as well as identical financial contributions from both the European Union and the ship-owners. Meanwhile, negotiations for a new agreement and protocol will continue with a view to the adoption of a new sustainable fisheries partnership agreement, before the expiration of the agreed extension.

 

More information

WestMED National Event in Mauritania helps concretise the Blue Economy concept

The Mauritania section of the WestMED website presents the latest news of the Blue Economy in Mauritania.

 

WestMED | National Event 2020 | 4 September | Online

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The Malta National Hub and National Coordinator for the WestMED Initiative in collaboration with Horizon Europe Oceans Mission and Malta Council for Science and Technology are organising a virtual National Event on the recovery and resilience of the national blue economy on 4 September, 2020.

The event aims to bring together national stakeholders from the various sectors of the blue economy to discuss common risks and joint opportunities across sectors, especially in the context of strengthening interlinkages between operators, the importance of digitalisation and the identification of national needs to be supported through national and EU funding.

Local experts from the public, private and academic sectors will be delivering presentations and running workshop sessions to discuss:

  • The WestMED Initiative and the Assistance Mechanism
  • The Horizon Europe Oceans Mission Area
  • EU funding opportunities for the blue economy sectors
  • Common opportunities for blue economy operators to build resilience – with a focus on the interlinkages between sectorial operators and digitalisation of the sector.

All stakeholders from the national marine and maritime sectors are invited to participate in the event, with the aim of bringing together policymakers, business operators, researchers and academics.

More information

Click here for the draft agenda

To register, please contact: malta@westmed-initiative.eu

More than 200 maritime stakeholders join online to discuss Italian MSP, Tourism and the new Italian-Tunisian cooperation

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On 25 and 26 June 2020, the WestMED Italian National Hub, with the support of the National Coordinator and the WestMED Central Team, gathered over 200 stakeholders online. These were spread over four different sessions: two plenary thematic sessions in the morning and two networking sessions in the afternoon.

Considering the Italian co-presidency in 2020 – 2021, the event was given a high international profile, welcoming contributions from main European and Mediterranean experts, the EU Commission (DG MARE, DG GROW, DG MOVE, EASME), EU MSP Platform and UNESCO IOC – MSP GLOBAL, for the benefit of Italian stakeholders.

Parallel to the National Event, the WestMED Technical Group on Green Shipping held its second online meeting, advancing on the definition of possible common project ideas on a better use of LNG and clean energies in maritime transportation.

On 25 June, the topic of the day was Maritime Spatial Planning as a tool to enhance any harmonic Blue Growth in Italy and in the Western Mediterranean. It included the state of play of the Italian process towards the March 2021 target of the MSP National Plan and its importance for the Metropolitan Coastal cities, the infrastructures for energy and maritime transport, the combination between human coastal activities and the preservation of maritime habitat.

On 26 June, the need to identify a new sustainable model for tourism was in the spotlight, with a focus on trying to offer the sector a sustainable perspective, mitigating the current impact of COVID-1 and adapting to the new scenario imposed by the accelerated climate change.

As a second initiative, since the signature of their cooperation agreement, Italian and Tunisian maritime clusters held a b2b session and focused on four main topics: high maritime education and VET, Maritime Surveillance, Fishing and Aquaculture, Nautical sector. This in order to already define some priority actions to be implemented from September onwards.

Considering the appreciation expressed by the stakeholders, the Italian WestMED National Hub and WestMED National Coordinator foresee the opportunity to implement further occasions of networking, as a follow-up of the emerged partnership opportunities.

Click here for an overview of all presentations

WestMED National Event in Mauritania helps concretise the Blue Economy concept

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On 30 June 2020, more than 20 stakeholders from Mauritania gathered online to discuss the Blue Economy concept.

This national event was  organised by the WestMED Assistance Mechanism in cooperation with the National Coordinator in Mauritania of the WestMED Initiative at the Mauritanian  Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Economy.

It was a first of its kind meeting on the Blue Economy in Mauritania where many different organisations and institutions were represented from the private sector, the public sector and the academic world.

Next to an exchange of views, 10 ideas were identified that can be focused on to take the Blue Economy concept in Mauritania to a next stage:

  1. Promote the blue economy profile in Mauritania
  2. Skills and competences of actors for sustainable development (fisheries)
  3. Innovation to improve sustainability (e.g., waste/plastic management beyond collection, sewage treatment plants and sustainable fishing vessels);
  4. Plastic reuse experience in Senegal as pilot to capitalise in Mauritania (?);
  5. Capitalise on the (eco) tourism experience related to marine protected areas (example Nouadhibou) for coastal development with support for local capacities/skills;
  6. Desalination projects to improve access to water – be aware of MPA.
  7. Access to renewable energy (marine) for local communities
  8. MSP as an essential tool for good shared use of the sea and coastlines
  9. MSP as an essential tool to allow for a proper shared usage of the sea and littorals (pressure on coastal areas could be addressed through “green solutions”)
  10. Strategic study to identify priority activities to support a sustainable blue economy.

The National Hub Mauritania, together with the National Coordinator will study these initial ideas in more detail  and decide on a path forward.

Resources of the event: Agenda, Opening presentation (in French).

MPA NETWORKS marches on

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This article was published first on MEDPAN website and is available here.

 

Despite the current context, the MPA NETWORKS project is in full swing. This project, which gathers 10 partners and is led by MedPAN, aims at strengthening Marine Protected Area managers networks in the Mediterranean to boost the efficiency of MPAs.

Focusing on 4 topics – MPA management effectiveness, sustainable small scale fisheries, conservation of mobile species and sustainable financing – the project features an array of inter-related activities:

 

The project now has its own website where more details can be found about the objectives and the activities of the project. News are being posted on a regular basis, also relayed on the social media profiles of the project that we encourage you to follow:
The 9 pilot projects, for a start, have begun and more details can be found here.
  • Port Cros National Park in France: Pilot action on management effectiveness & small scale fisheries –
  • Portofino MPA in Italy: Pilot action on sustainable financing & small scale fisheries –
  • Torre del Cerrano MPA (note: link removed/ page inactive) in Italy: Pilot action on small scale fisheries
  • Torre Guaceto MPA in Italy: Pilot action on small scale fisheries & mobile species conservation
  • Brijuni National Park (link removed/ page inactive) in Croatia: Pilot action on management effectiveness
  • Zakynthos National Marine Park in Greece: Pilot action on mobile species conservation
  • Strunjan Landscape Park (link removed/ page inactive) in Slovenia: Pilot action on small scale fisheries & conservation of mobile species –
  • Karaburun Sazan National Marine Park (link removed/ page inactive) in Albania: Pilot action on small scale fisheries
  • Llevant Marine Reserve (link removed/ page inactive) in Spain: Pilot action on sustainable financing – Financing

Other activities of the project are also moving forward such as the establishment of working groups to provide the network with in-depth and permanent expertise on the key themes of the project. See the article dedicated to the working groups.

The setup of a permanent and operational training programme for MPA practitioners as well as the organisation of the Mediterranean MPA Forum, that should take a different form due to the pandemics, are also underway. More on these subjects will be shared soon.

A poster and a presentation presenting the project are available.

WestMED National Event in Tunisia advances development of a Blue Economy Strategy

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The National  Hub Tunisia of the WestMED Initiative organized on 30 June 2020 in Tunis, the national event on ” The blue economy in Tunisia” which brought together more than 100 people including government officials, the European Union delegation in Tunis, companies, associations,  academics and researchers.

The purpose of this event was to advance the WestMED Initiative and to support Tunisia in developing a sustainable blue economy strategy based on modernising traditional sectors such as fishing, tourism, maritime transport … and promoting emerging sectors such as marine biotechnology, aquaculture, pesca-tourism, clustering, exploitation of of fish products and renewable energies linked to the sea, etc.

At the opening of the event, and after the presentation of the WestMED Initiative by the Tunisian National Hub, Mr. Chokri Ben Hassen, Tunisian Minister for the Environment, Ms. Sophie Vanhaeverbeke, head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union in Tunisia and Mr. Sabri Chaabani, national coordinator of the project underlined their common vision of a sustainable blue economy in Tunisia and the Mediterranean. A modern blue economy based on an alliance between the states bordering the Mediterranean. An alliance for the implementation of the road map of the “Green deal”, the European green pact promulgated by the European Union in response to the economic crisis that we are going through with Covid19.

The speakers recalled the many maritime assets of Tunisia including more than 1,650 km of coastline, a maritime area of ​​135,000 km2, a very large infrastructure in commercial ports and fishing ports, a quite varied maritime and port professions, an active artisanal fishing fleet, a very developed seaside activity and the majority of foreign trade (95%) which transits by sea.

However, several weaknesses need to be addressed. They concern in particular the fragility of sensitive maritime areas, the density of international shipping traffic not far from the coast, with potential risks of accidents and pollution and poor coordination between the many stakeholders in the sea.

Elements of an integrated maritime policy and a blue economy strategy have been proposed with action plans for several sectors. These plans were the subject of a very rich debate with a strong intervention of the civil society which insisted on the need for the protection of the environment against the pollution of plastics, ships and industrial waste and to face illegal fishing, especially off the Mahdia-Gulf of Gabes area

Finally, speakers supported the idea that Tunisia can benefit from all sectors of the sustainable blue economy. It can thus transform its development model with research, investments for economic, social and environmental activities with high added value offering numerous opportunities for qualified jobs. They insisted on cooperation with the European Union and other international institutions to make this objective a reality.

 

More information

Agenda

 

In the media

in French

Tunisie : Préparation de la stratégie d’économie bleue

Economie bleue : Pour une croissance durable et inclusive

La Tunisie délaisse l’économie bleue, malgré un important potentiel

Tunisie: un événement sur “l’économie bleue” en Tunisie le 30 juin 

 

in Arabic

تونس انطلقت في إعداد استراتجيتها لتركيز أسس الإقتصاد الأزرق

تونس انطلقت في إعداد استراتجيتها لتركيز أسس الإقتصاد الأزرق في اطار توجه متوسطي

تونس انطلقت في إعداد استراتيجيتها لتركيز أسس الاقتصاد الأزرق

 

 

2020 Blue Economy Report: Blue sectors contribute to the recovery and pave way for EU Green Deal

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The European Commission published on 11 June “The EU Blue Economy Report 2020”, providing an overview of the performance of the EU economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment. With a turnover of €750 billion in 2018, the EU blue economy is in good health. There were also 5 million people working in the blue economy sector in 2018, representing a significant increase of 11.6% compared to the year before. Although sectors such as coastal and marine tourism, as well as fisheries and aquaculture are severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the blue economy as a whole presents a huge potential in terms of its contribution to a green recovery.

Source: European Commission

Read the Press Release and access the report and other material here.

FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BLACK SEA: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS

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Throughout the world, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors are facing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a view to sharing information among its countries and facilitating a reflection on future responses, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) has conducted a preliminary analysis of the impacts of this crisis on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region.

The analysis was carried out from the beginning of the crisis, on the basis of available information. The main sources used included responses to a questionnaire circulated by the GFCM to its countries, direct consultations with relevant partners, media articles and digital posts published from 1 March 2020.

It clearly emerges from this analysis that the COVID-19 crisis has had an effect on fisheries and aquaculture production as well as on markets for fisheries and aquaculture products. The extent of the impacts and the measures taken have varied from country to country and are constantly evolving.

The main findings are outlined here.