Debate: Momentum for the Ocean: strengthening Ocean Governance and Biodiversity
Date: MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Adina-Ioana Vălean
Language: EN

Honourable Members, the ocean is not doing well. Insufficient progress has been made over the last years towards a clean, healthy, productive and resilient ocean. And this is our collective responsibility. Solutions exist and they are in our hands. They require bold choices, which need to be made now. And with the largest combined exclusive economic zone in the world, the EU and its Member States have a particular interest in steering this debate and reaffirming their ambition for an improved ocean governance. The role and the support of the European Parliament is crucial in this regard. Today’s debate and the resolution that you will adopt later this week therefore come at exactly the right moment. And this year, 2022, is a pivotal year for ocean governance. Milestone events have taken place in 2022, like the one Ocean Summit in Brest or the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. In a few weeks time, the Climate Change COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh will be an opportunity to further strengthen ocean climate change, mitigation and adaptation action. And the biodiversity COP15 in Montreal will aim at an ambitious agreement, including targets to protect land and global oceans by 2030.  Honourable Members, as we have often said, there is no green without blue and under the umbrella of the European Green Deal, this translates in both the international and the EU domestic strands of ocean related policies. With the joint Communication on the EU’s International Ocean Governance Agenda of June this year, the EU confirms its commitments under the United Nations 2030 Agenda and ahead of the two decisive COPS later this year. In this context, one of the key priorities we have is to halt and reverse the loss of marine biodiversity. We hope to achieve this by concluding as soon as possible an ambitious UN treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, including a target of 30% marine protected areas by 2030 and new large-scale marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean.  With the High Ambition Coalition, which you have launched, we are at the forefront of the efforts to achieve an ambitious outcome to these negotiations. At the last negotiating round that took place in New York in August, the EU took a leading role and it was instrumental in achieving very good progress, even though, unfortunately, in the end no final agreement could be reached.  Another priority is to protect the seabed by prohibiting deep-sea mining until its effects on the marine environment, biodiversity, human activities have been sufficiently researched, the risks are understood and the technologies and operational practices are able to demonstrate no serious harm to the environment.  Furthermore, we need to ensure sustainable fisheries with a zero tolerance approach against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. In this context, we welcome the multilateral agreement achieved in the World Trade Organization regarding the ban of harmful fisheries subsidies. Yes, it is only the first step, but the EU is fully committed to complementing this agreement as soon as possible with those essential elements not yet agreed. Our fight against climate change and against marine pollution continues as well. This includes decarbonising the maritime sectors and preserving the oceans-blue carbon function, as well as work towards concluding an ambitious, legally-binding global plastic agreement by 2024.  Last but not least, we need to step up efforts to build up ocean knowledge. Based on European programmes such as Copernicus and EMODnet, we want to support the implementation of a UN Decade Collaborative Centre for Ocean Prediction and encourage the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel for Ocean Sustainability.  Honourable Members, our international efforts to improve ocean governance clearly mirror the ambition of our domestic policies. The ocean, which acts as a significant carbon sink - notably its seabed, is one of our strongest allies when it comes to reaching our climate goals. Let me recall that we proposed a new standard on greenhouse gas intensity of energy used on board ships. We are working with the co-legislators on extending the EU ETS to maritime transport and we are also helping the fishing sector to decarbonise and to become less dependent on fossil fuels. And climate mitigation efforts need to go hand-in-hand with sustained and robust action on adaptation, to make our oceans as resilient as possible. Nature based solutions are at the forefront of our action.  In this context, we have proposed legally-binding EU targets to restore marine ecosystems. Looking at how the ocean can support our decarbonisation efforts, offshoring renewable energy is one of the pillars of the EU’s energy transition, but we will need to look beyond offshore wind. The energy from tides and waves are predictable and promise to complement today’s technologies for wind and sun. Maritime spatial planning will help us to reconcile decarbonisation objectives, but also nature protection and restoration at sea.  As regards the oceans economic potential, the implementation of our communication on the sustainable blue economy has already brought many positive achievements. The implementation of the Commission’s strategic guidelines for aquaculture has been advancing and we will shortly adapt an EU algae initiative which will bring new opportunities for our blue economy. In parallel will continue our joint efforts with Member States and coastal communities to make EU fisheries more sustainable. Important progress has already been made in the Atlantic, clearly showing that the sustainability pays off also economically, but additional efforts will be necessary also in other sea basins. We are fully aware that, first, Brexit and then the COVID pandemic and now the Russian ruthless invasion of Ukraine and its consequences pose enormous challenges to the fishing sector. The EU has reacted quickly, proposing two emergency packages in 2020 and 2022 respectively, to support the fisheries sector in addressing the socio-economic consequences. We now need to further help our fishermen and women to decrease their dependency on fossil fuels and make our fisheries more resilient.  Finally, let me mention research and innovation, which also play a key role to unlock the oceans for potential. Horizon Europe, and in particular the mission to restore the health of our ocean and waters by 2030, can contribute to scaling up solutions and help us to achieve the blue targets of the European Green Deal. And we also need to raise awareness about oceans and increase ocean literacy, in particular of the young generation. Our Ocean Literacy Initiative, the Youth for Ocean Coalition, the Network of European Blue Schools and the EU4Ocean Forum are instrumental in this regard.  Honourable Members, we all know that only healthy oceans can be climate mitigators and provide services for our blue economy. Therefore, it’s not a luxury, but it is a necessity to prevent and mitigate the pressures provoking the biodiversity loss in our seas. We are now at a crucial moment in which we have the opportunity to put in place concrete actions to stop biodiversity loss, as well as restoring the marine ecosystems, and sustainable fisheries play a key role in this context, and the recent Commission proposal for a new nature restoration law, as well as the upcoming action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, will not only contribute to protecting and restoring our seas, but also to making the fisheries sector in Europe more resilient in the long term. Thank you for your attention and I am looking forward for your comments.