1.3.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 99/217 Thursday 8 July 2021
4.
Recalls the Union’s commitment on marine protection to legally protect a minimum of 30 % of the EU’s sea area, including strictly protecting 10 % of its seas; recalls that the EU should ensure that the post-2020 global framework includes ambitious global 2030 targets in line with EU commitments; reiterates, further, its position that the EU should act as a global leader and push for a high level of ambition, matching or exceeding its own, during the negotiations for the global framework, which should include legally binding global restoration and protection targets of at least 30 % by 2030; underlines that protected areas need to be effectively protected; 5.
Recalls the CCAMLR’s commitment to create a representative system of MPAs in the CAMLR Convention Area by 2012 that protects representative examples of marine ecosystems, biodiversity and habitats; 6.
Underlines that the Madrid Protocol prohibits activities related to Antarctic mineral resources except for scientific research purposes; calls for this crucial provision to be maintained in future agreements; 7.
Points out that the geographic isolation of the Southern Ocean makes monitoring operations in the CAMLR Convention Area complex and difficult; 8.
Highlights that over 80 % of the seabed remains unexplored (9), and that further oceanographic research is necessary, especially on the impacts of pollution and climate change on ecosystems; 9.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States together with global partners to strengthen the network of MPAs globally through enhanced management, better spatial planning, evaluations and enforcement in order to increase ecological coherence and connectivity of MPAs; 10.
Underlines that IUU fishing activities represent a considerable threat to sustainable fishing and the resilience of marine ecosystems; 11.
Underlines that tourism in Antarctica must be conducted in a sustainable way; calls therefore on the CCAMLR to ensure that tourism is conducted accordingly and that it does not adversely impact the ecosystem; 12.
Underlines that the establishment of these two new MPAs would be an important contribution to the global dimension of the EUs Biodiversity Strategy; calls on the Commission and Member States to use the establishment of these MPAs as a basis in the global negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity in the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China; 13.
Notes that the establishment of MPAs covering over 3 million km2 in the eastern Antarctic and the Weddell Sea would create one of the largest marine protection areas in history; 14.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the European Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the Member States of the CCAMLR.
(9)
National Ocean Service, 2021: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html