France pledges its support at national level to the EU Mission Ocean and Waters Charter

Today, France formally pledges its support to the Charter of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters in the framework of a Mission conference in Paris.

Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said:

“It’s heartening to see the continued support by France to the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters. With French national initiatives supporting the strong and concerted action, we are one step closer to delivering on the Mission’s objectives.”

Sylvie Retailleau, Minister for Higher Education and Research underlined the strong commitment to restoring the ocean, seas, and waters and to support delivering on the Mission’s 2030 goal.

Some of the main actions pledged include:

• the €130 million Haropa (Le Havre, Rouen, Paris) first-of-its kind multimodal port in the Channel, committed to greening its activities and due to be energy positive by 2040.
• a marine environment monitoring infrastructure to observe and understand coastal ecosystems, feeding into the Digital Twin of the Ocean.
• a large-scale research programme to better understand the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt and predict the formation of this harmful algal bloom bank and its trajectory.
• a €50 million Ocean and Climate Priority Research Programme to fund interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, ambitious research proposals aligned with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) priorities, to which France will greatly contribute.

Pledges to the Mission Ocean

France is one of several Member States to have pledged initiatives at national level under the Mission Charter:

• The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has pledged two national research missions on the protection and sustainable use of marine areas and on marine carbon sinks, its coastal research programme for ecosystem-oriented, sustainable management of coastal resources as well as the research into phase-out of mobile bottom-contact fishing in the Baltic and North Sea.
• The Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs is working with 23 fishing ports across the country to raise public awareness of sustainable fishing with citizens and local communities.
• Ireland’s Marine Institute has pledged its Nordic Strategy on its relationship and engagement in the Arctic as well as research on anticipated issues around the expansion of Ireland’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Irelands’ Water Utility Uisce Éireann pledged to prevent and eliminate pollution of Irish and European ocean, seas and waters by transforming Ireland's water infrastructure through upgrades to its wastewater collection and treatment infrastructures.
• Latvia's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development is putting in place multi-level governance to balance different interests and drivers in coastal areas, helping public authorities to harmonise land and marine planning and balance initiatives that impact coastal development.
• The Lithuanian Inland Waterway Authority is electrifying cargo transportation in inland waterways and investing in building electric tugboats for shallow waters as well as ensuring the needed port infrastructure.
• The Finnish Ministry of Environment has pledged the Finnish Coastal Strategy promoting sustainable development of the coast through climate change mitigation, biodiversity and zero pollution measures, water protection, as well as the Finnish Inventory Programme for Underwater Marine Diversity (Velmu), which collects data on underwater marine biotopes, species and communities in Finland’s marine waters.

Further Member States and Associated countries (Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain) have also announced their strong support for the implementation of the Mission during ‘lighthouse’ conferences.

Background

Launched in September 2021, the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters' aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters by 2030 through research and innovation, citizen engagement and investments in the blue economy. The Mission addresses the ocean and waters as one and plays a key role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.

Through the Mission Charter, close to 600 actions have been submitted by diverse stakeholders such as national, regional, and local authorities, cities, ports, shipping companies, universities and research institutes and civil society organisation mobilising in total approx. €4.3 billion.

The Mission fosters broad engagement and cooperation through area-based ‘Lighthouses' in major sea and river basins: Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea. Mission lighthouses are sites to pilot, demonstrate, develop and deploy the Mission activities across EU seas and river basins.

More information

EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters

Press contact:

EC Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation