The European Union will devote in 2023 more than 800 million euros to the protection of the oceans

The European Union (EU) announced Thursday, March 2 that in 2023 it will devote more than 800 million euros to ocean protection programs. “The EU confirms its strong commitment to international ocean governance by announcing thirty-nine concrete commitments for the year 2023. These actions will be funded to the tune of €816.5 million”announced the EU in a press release.

The promise came at the opening in Panama of the global conference Our Ocean, marked by calls to seal as soon as possible an international treaty, discussed in parallel with the UN, to protect international waters and monitor illegal fishing by satellites. .

Of this total envelope, the European Union specified that it would devote “320 million euros for ocean research to protect marine biodiversity and study the impact of climate change on the ocean”. Additionally, the EU “will modernize its constellation of satellites with the launch of Sentinel-1C, for a value of 250 million euros”the statement added. “Sentinel-1C will be essential to continue to observe icebergs and melting ice in the Arctic in real time to monitor the effects of climate change”stresses the EU.

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Some 600 delegates from governments, businesses and NGOs will discuss for two days the framework to be given to the “blue economy” (the oceanic equivalent of the “green economy”) for the sustainable exploitation and protection of the seas and oceans. They will discuss ways to expand marine protected areas, reduce pollution from plastics and other litter, combat illegal fishing and curb underwater mining.

Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo opened the conference by signing a decree expanding the protected maritime zone of Banco Volcan (Caribbean Sea) from 14,000 to 93,000 square kilometers. Thus, Panama “will protect 54.33% of its exclusive area” maritime, underlined the Panamanian minister of the environment, Milciades Concepcion.

A treaty under discussion for fifteen years

In a pre-summit meeting, representatives from the European Union, the United States, Latin America and the Pacific Islands called on the New York negotiators of the high seas treaty, under discussion for over fifteen years at the UN, to be achieved as quickly as possible. “Let’s seal the deal”said the French Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville. “We are very close to it”according to an official for the oceans of the American State Department, Maxine Burkett.

“We hope that all countries reach an ambitious agreement”said the moderator of this meeting, Maximiliano Bello, of the NGO Mission Blue. “The high seas make up half the surface of the planet, far from national jurisdictions, and only a dozen countries have come to use it (exploit it) in a rather disruptive way”explained Mr. Bello to Agence France-Presse.

The high seas begin where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the States end, at a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the coasts and are therefore not under the jurisdiction of any country. Representing more than 60% of the oceans and almost half of the planet, it is crucial for the protection of the entire ocean, itself vital for humanity but threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on negotiators from member countries who have been meeting in New York since February 20 until Friday to finally conclude a treaty. “robust and ambitious” on the high seas. “Our ocean has been under pressure for decades. We can no longer ignore the urgency for the ocean”he launched.

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The Our Ocean conferences were launched in 2014 on the initiative of John Kerry, then head of the American diplomacy. They offer a unique forum to address all issues related to the sea. In Panama there are more than two hundred NGOs, sixty research centers, fourteen philanthropic structures and a hundred companies and international organizations.

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The participants will not proceed to any vote and will not adopt an agreement but will announce “commitments” volunteers. Several organizations have come together to demand more transparency from governments about overfishing.

“In many countries there is overfishing and hardly anyone knows about it”, warned Valeria Merino, of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative. NGOs are advocating for better use of satellites to monitor boats.

The World with AFP

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