"Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030" is one of the five European missions for 2021-2027. They are a novelty of Horizon Europe aspiring to provide solutions to the world's greatest challenges through research and innovation. Horizon Europe Missions set the strategy on which Europe will mobilize all public and private actors to work towards a greener, healthier, more inclusive, and resilient continent.
The Commission presented its ambitious initiatives for a cleaner, healthier and safer Ocean during the One Ocean Summit. What is this Summit, and what were the initiatives presented by the Commission? What does it mean for EU funding? Let's find out.
What is One Ocean Summit?
One Ocean Summit took place between 9-11 February in Brest, France, "to take action against the threat to the ocean." One Ocean was realized by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union supported by the United Nations. It is a segment that belongs to the One Planet Summit initiative that started in 2017 to commemorate the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
One Ocean's goal was to unite the ambitions of the international community in providing solutions to marine issues and transform them into tangible commitments. In One Ocean Summit, several Heads of State and Governments, leaders of multilateral institutions, business leaders, and civil society policymakers participated. They are the ones that agreed on several commitments in favor of marine ecosystems. At the same time, many important initiatives were also launched.
To find what was discussed during One Ocean, see the agenda.
Why is it important to protect the ocean?
We may feel that our world is an immense place, but 70% of it is covered by water. At the same time, we have only explored a fraction of our oceans (about 20%), meaning that many things remain a mystery in our own home. However, despite the obvious importance of oceans, they were often sidelined from major European and international events, and that has to change.
Oceans are critical in maintaining environmental balances around the world, especially climate. Also, they provide critical resources, enable international trade, and connect countries and human communities around the world. However, yearlong neglection, overexploitation of resources, and climate change threaten oceans worldwide.
Based on that, the importance of One Ocean Summit is self-prevalent. We need to start taking our oceans and waters more seriously and protecting them. Our lives are more dependent on water than we realize, or we tend to forget in favour of profits.
The European initiatives at One Ocean
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, presented the EU's ambitious initiatives to respond to ocean challenges. Speaking at the Summit, she said: "Our mission to protect the Ocean needs to be as big as our shared responsibility. That is why we have come to Brest today to join forces and turn the tide. Europe can make a huge contribution, as a maritime power. But only together can we step up protection and let our oceans teem with life again."
As part of the European Mission to "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030", the President of the European Commission presented the EU initiatives on the following topics:
1. Protection of marine biodiversity and resources
President von der Leyen launched the high-ambition coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) for global marine conservation. This coalition will try to limit threats like pollution, overexploitation, the impact of climate change in areas beyond national jurisdiction that represent 95% of the Ocean. This coalition gathers parties committed to a positive outcome in the ongoing negotiations of the Treaty of the High Seas of the United Nations.
Another initiative to protect marine biodiversity is the zero-tolerance towards illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The EU since 2010 has implemented a set of measures to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU that pose a threat to the world's fish stocks.
2. Fighting marine pollution
Pollution, especially from plastics, is a major threat to oceans' health worldwide. Following the EU's vision for one clean Ocean, the EU presented its initiatives on addressing plastic pollution via decreasing the use of plastic and accelerating the transition to a circular economy. To reduce plastic, the EU introduced in 2021 the Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive setting the rules to phasing out single-use plastic from the economy that often ends up as marine litter.
3. An ocean of solutions for climate change
Becoming carbon neutral is one of the aims of the Green Deal for Europe. For this to happen also needs the participation of the maritime industry that heavily relies on carbon-intensive fuels. For this reason, the EU has come up with the Fuel-EU Maritime Proposal that the introduction of fuel standards limit greenhouse gas intensity. Additionally, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation wants to make ports provide onshore power supply to ships or use other zero-emission technologies while at berth. Finally, the EU wants to extend the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) to the maritime sector to drive decarbonization.
4. Ocean governance
The EU is putting research and innovation work for ocean preservation through the relevant EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030". This mission will support research projects – "lighthouses" - to develop solutions to protect and restore waterway ecosystems and make the blue economy climate neural and circular.
During One Ocean, von der Leyen launched the European Digital Twin Ocean. It is a digital ocean platform to be developed under the EU Mission on Ocean and waters that will enhance access to marine data, increase our knowledge on marine environments, and increase our forecasting and modeling applications.
Finally, during One Ocean, the need to increase ocean literacy through education was stressed extensively. Doing so will increase our awareness and assist us in putting new knowledge into practice easier. An example is the EU4Ocean coalition that brings diverse partners together to share their knowledge about oceans to improve their sustainable management.
EU funding opportunities to restore our oceans and waters
At the same time as One Ocean took place, there are numerous open Horizon Europe funding opportunities for aquatic resources for research projects. However, as ocean and water preservation will remain high on the EU priority list, numerous funding opportunities will be made available between 2021-2027. The reason is that 2030 is the first milestone to reach the climate targets of the EU Green Deal. Therefore, Europe needs to support R&I to develop innovative solutions.
Speaking of EU support, if you are looking for Horizon Europe funding to finance your research project on aquatic resources, you can find them on EUcalls. Here is a list of Horizon Europe open calls whose application deadline is on 12 April 2022.
- Atlantic and Arctic basin lighthouse - restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-03
- Danube river basin lighthouse – restoration of fresh and transitional water ecosystems - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-02
- European Blue Parks - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-01
- Danube river basin lighthouse – coordination activities - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-04
- Atlantic and Arctic basins lighthouse – coordination activities - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-05
- Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse - actions to prevent, minimise and remediate litter and plastic pollution - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-03-01
- Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse – coordination activities - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-03-02
- Underlying models for the European Digital Twin Ocean - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-05-01
- The relation of young generations with the sea and water: values, expectations, and engagement - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-05-02
- Piloting citizen science in marine and freshwater domains - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-05-03
- Lighthouse in the Baltic and the North Sea basins - Low impact marine aquaculture and multi-purpose use of marine space - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-04-01
- Baltic and North Sea basin lighthouse – coordination activities - HORIZON-MISS-2021-OCEAN-04-02
To be able to see the above calls, you must be an EUcalls member. EUcalls is a community of thousands of experienced EU project partners that are always looking for new collaborations. Be advised that if you are interested in one of the above calls, you should "declare your interest." Doing so will make your organization visible to other organizations looking for collaborations on these projects. Alternatively, you can use Idea Pad to share your ideas with the world, or get inspired from others' ideas to collaborate.
The EUcalls team is always at your disposal to answer your questions at info@eucalls.net
