front cover blue economy report 2021

2021 EU Blue Economy report – Emerging sectors prepare blue economy for leading part in EU green transition

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The European Commission has published the fourth edition of “The EU Blue Economy Report”, providing an overview of the performance of the EU-27 economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment.

The sector directly employed close to 4.5 million people in 2018 and generated around €650 billion in turnover and €176 billion in gross value added. Emerging activities such as ocean energy, marine biotechnology and robotics are developing quickly and will play an important role in the EU’s transition towards a carbon-neutral, circular and biodiverse economy.

Read the full article here on the ec.europa.site

Download the full report here

 

front cover portuguese recovery and resilience plan

Portugal’s recovery and resilience plan purposes €252 million for Blue Economy

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Portugal was the first Member-State to officially submit its recovery and resilience plan to the European Commission on the 22nd of April. The Plan focuses on resilience, climate, and digital transition, and it is divided into 20 main sections/areas, comprising 27 reforms and 83 investments.

 The Blue Economy is one of the 20 areas for investing, gathering a total amount of €252 million. The four investments are the Blue Hub, a Network of Infrastructures for the Blue Economy; The Green and Digital Transition and Fisheries security; the Atlantic Defence Operations Centre and Naval Platform; and the development of the Azores Blue Economy Cluster.

 The European Commission will assess the Portuguese Plan and wait for all Member-State to submit their recovery and resilience plans. “We will continue to engage intensively with the Member States to help them deliver high-quality plans. Our goal remains to adopt all plans by the summer. For the first payments to be made, we need all Member States to have approved the Own Resources Decision”, said President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan is available here.

The European Commission Press Release is available here.

 

For more information contact the National Hub Portugal

clusteract matchmaking event poster

El Clúster Marítimo Marino de Andalucía organiza un evento donde podrás presentar tu idea Economía Azul ante un grupo de inversores

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Se trata de un nuevo evento cuyo objetivo es la búsqueda de ideas de negocio innovadoras en el entorno marítimo marino y la puesta en contacto con posibles inversores para el desarrollo de dichos proyectos o ideas de negocio.

El Clúster Marítimo Marino de Andalucía como socio del proyecto europeo Cluster ACT financiado por el Fondo Europeo Marítimo y de Pesca (FEMP) gestionado por EASME (CINEA), organiza un Matchmaking Event.

El objetivo de Cluster ACT es el de desarrollar un mecanismo para la creación de redes y la colaboración entre clústeres marítimos con inversores privados para mejorar la innovación y el desarrollo empresarial en el sector marítimo marino, centrándose en tres subsectores: actividades náuticas, navegación y puertos & marinas.

Más información aquí

WestMED Assistance Mechanism highlights the importance of transferability to Southern Shore countries during meeting of the Sustainable Tourism Community

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The westMED Assistance Mechanism participated in the event on May 6 2021 organised by the Sustainable Tourism Community where the importance of replicability and transferability of EU funded projects was highlighted – including the importance of strengthening ties and opportunities with Southern partners. It was also noted that the assistance Mechanism is actively engaged in supporting stakeholders to extend the benefits that are coming out of a number of projects on sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.

The MED Sustainable Tourism Community counts on a group of 17 Associated partners (networks, actors participating in Mediterranean initiatives, tourism stakeholders, academia) with the role of ensuring links with other initiatives and to enlarge the impacts and the scope of the dissemination, transferring and capitalisation activities. The main questions discussed the event are:

  1. The identification of synergies with existing initiatives of participating  organizations
  2. Identification of collaboration among organization and the MED Community
  3. Involvement in the the transferring & capitalization of activities

During the meeting on the Sustainable Tourism community, reference has been made  to the following catalogue on the most important outputs of the projects implemented within the Sustainable Tourism Community (STC) of the INTERREG MED 2014- 2020 programme (https://sustainable-tourism.interreg-med.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Sites/Sustainable_Tourism/horizontal_project/ST_Deliverables_IP_2/ST_IP2_WP4/4.3.2.Community_Catalogue/_CAT_ST_full_35MPs_WEB.pdf

 

Read the news item of this event on the Interreg Med  – Sustainable Tourism website

 

mediterranean beach

WestMED Asistance Mechanism highlights importance of transferability of Sustainable Tourism Initiatives to Southern Shore Countries

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The Assistance Mechanism participated in an event on May 6, 2021 organised by the Sustainable Tourism Community where the importance of replicability and transferability of EU funded projects and was highlighted – including the importance of strengthening ties and opportunities with Southern partners. It was also noted that the Assistance Mechanism is actively engaged in supporting stakeholders to extend the benefits that are coming out of a number of projects on sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.

The MED Sustainable Tourism Community counts on a group of 17 Associated partners (networks, actors participating in Mediterranean initiatives, tourism stakeholders, academia) with the role of ensuring links with other initiatives and to enlarge the impacts and the scope of the dissemination, transferring and capitalisation activities. The main questions discussed the event are:

  1. The identification of synergies with existing initiatives of participating  organizations
  2. Identification of collaboration among organization and the MED Community
  3. Involvement in the the transferring & capitalization of activities

Read the news article on the Interreg Med Sustainable tourism

 

For more information, please contact:
– Stephanie Vella: malta@westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu
– Mohamed Lemine:   mauritania@westmed-initiative.ec.europa.eu

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UVIGO releases the Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Climate Change Impact on MPA’s (Beta-Version)

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In the frame of the MPA Engage project, the University of VIGO (UVIGO) developed a methodology for designing and implementing a Social-ecological Vulnerability Assessment to the projected impacts of climate change in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Mediterranean.

UVIGO developed an interactive tool in the form of an app for the calculation and illustration of the Vulnerability Indices in order to support managers in the management and the interpretation of the vulnerability of the MPA and its species and habitats.

 

More information

Visit the MPA Engage website

 

screenshot conference common project on marine litterdechstes

Conférence Méditerranéenne sur l’implication de la science et du secteur socio-économique sur la problématique des déchets marin – 28 Avril 2021

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Le HN Tunisie a participé le 29 et 30 avril 2021 à une conférence virtuelle méditerranéenne sur les déchets marins dans la Mer Méditerranée : quels impacts et quelles solutions à l’Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, organisée par l’équipe du projet COMMON,  financé par l’Union Européenne dans cadre de programme ENI CBC MED et dans laquelle le HN a présenté le projet Westmed ainsi que ses objectifs et ses priorités.

88 personnes ont assisté à ce webinaire, représentant l’administration, les entreprises publiques et privées, les municipalités, la société civile, les instituts de recherche et l’université. 29 intervenants ont axé leurs communications sur les déchets marins qui sont rapidement devenus l‘une des principales sources de pollution de la mer méditerranée, avec des conséquences négatives pour les organismes marins vivants, les écosystèmes marins, la santé humaine et les activités côtières, y compris le tourisme et la pêche.

Le projet COMMON a pour objectif d’appliquer les principes de la Gestion Intégrée des Zones Côtières (GIZC) pour faire face au défi des déchets marins, en améliorant la connaissance du phénomène, ainsi que les performances environnementales de 5 zones côtières pilotes en Italie, en Tunisie et au Liban, tout en impliquant les parties prenantes locales dans la gestion des déchets marins.

Trois actions importantes ont été réalisées dans le cadre de ce projet, il s’agit de l’amélioration des connaissances sur des sources de déchets et de leur impact sur les écosystèmes des 5 zones pilotes, du renforcement des capacités institutionnelles dans la lutte contre les déchets marins à travers les principes de la GIZC et la création de forums permanents de parties prenante autours de la problématique des déchets marins.

Les réalisations du projet prévoient l’élaboration de 10 études scientifiques sur les liens entre les problèmes posés par les déchets marins et les activités humaines terrestres, la création d’une plateforme informatique pour le partage de méthodologies et de données sur les déchets marins et la formation de 250 personnes sur la gestion des déchets marins.

Ces ateliers de formation concernent notamment l’approche de l’économie circulaire pour lutter contre les déchets marins à la source, la gestion de la législation sur la pollution marine, la promotion de services maritimes écoresponsable, la promotion des activités de pêche et d’aquaculture respectueuses de l’environnement, la promotion d’un modèle d’école éco responsable, la gestion intégrée des zones côtières (GIZC) et les stratégies innovantes pour la gestion des déchets marins.

30 municipalités seront impliquées dans un réseau de villes côtières à travers la Méditerranée réunies pour lutter contre les déchets marins et 50 organisations de la société civile participent activement dans des campagnes de nettoyage des plages.

Liens utiles:

INSTM: www.instm.agrinet.tn

COMMON Project: www.enicbcmed.eu/fr/projets/common

Bluemed hackathon event poster

BlueMed Hackathon: call for ideas and solutions for a Healthy Plastic Free Mediterranean Sea

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In the frame of the Pilot Action on marine litter, BlueMed launches a Hackathon team challenge to develop ideas and solutions for a Healthy Plastic Free Mediterranean Sea, to promote sustainable blue growth and circular bioeconomy in the Mediterranean.

The Hackathon is dedicated to 18-30 years old Master and PhD candidates or graduates in STEM disciplines, designer/creatives and marine science young professionals with no restriction on geographical origin. This team challenge will contribute to identify and propose solutions to plastic pollution and promote sustainable blue growth in the Mediterranean.

The BlueMed Hackathon will virtually start on May 18th; candidates have to fill out the online form at https://semed.eu/search?q=bluemed before 10th May 2021.

Winners will be announced during the Final Event in June 2021 and will get access to a training phase for the development of their project idea into a business plan to be presented during ECOMONDO Exhibition in October 2021. ECOMONDO (Rimini, Italy) is the most important event in Europe for technological and industrial innovation for circular economy and winners will have the chance to meet companies, investors and plan business with them.

More information
 Visit the event page on the BlueMed website .

screenshot financial afrik with ship in port

Mauritanie-Algérie : ouverture d’une ligne maritime stratégique pour l’export

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Source: Financial Afrik

La Mauritanie et l’Algérie ont procédé lundi 12 avril au port d’Alger, à l’ouverture officielle d’une nouvelle ligne maritime entre Alger et Nouakchott. Ce premier axe maritime  est destiné essentiellement à faciliter  l’export des produits algériens vers la Mauritanie, mais également en Afrique.

D’après la fiche technique, ce trajet est géré par la société « Anisfer Line » spécialisée dans le transport maritime. L’entreprise organise tous les 20 jours un nouveau voyage sur cette ligne pour exporter divers produits algériens vers la Mauritanie ainsi que vers les autres pays africains voisins. Cette nouvelle route, indique-t-on, réduira le délai d’exportation vers la Mauritanie à cinq  jours.

S’exprimant à cette occasion, le directeur général de la société, Mustapha Hamadou, a  mentionné que l’ouverture de cette ligne maritime constitue la première ligne directe vers l’Afrique. Elle permettra, souligne le responsable, à l’Algérie d’exporter ses différents produits vers le continent africain dans un délai record.

En lire plus
visitez la page Web Financial Afrik

 

 

offshore wind farm

Maritime Spatial Planning: most countries late, offshore wind must remain a priority

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Source: wind europe

Only 6 EU countries met the deadline for the submission of the final Maritime Spatial Plans.  Others will need to ensure that their Plans are aligned with EU climate goals and allow for the development of offshore wind.

Offshore wind will play a central role in helping the EU meet its climate goals and decarbonise its economy. The EU Commission see offshore wind being 30% of Europe’s electricity by 2050. The EU Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy (ORES) set a target of 300 GW offshore wind for the EU by 2050, 25 times more than what the EU has today.  But many activities already take place in the sea: shipping, fisheries, sand extraction, military activity, etc.  And many areas are protected for marine conservation.  To ensure that all these different activities take place in an efficient, safe and sustainable way, governments and stakeholders do Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP).  MSP allows governments to plan and decide on the spatial and temporal distribution of activities and uses in the sea.

The EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive requires coastal Member States to submit their Maritime Spatial Plans to the Commission by 31 March 2021.  However only 6 of them met the deadline: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, and Portugal.  The other 16 failed to send in their Plans on time: Germany, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain.

Read the full text here