Summary/Abstract
The European Ocean Pact builds on existing legislation and initiatives and will provide a holistic approach across all policy areas. It introduces a single reference framework aimed at streamlining coordination processes, simplifying reporting obligations and offering a strategy for implementing existing legislations and achieving policy goals more coherently across sectors. It lays the groundwork for an Ocean Union, including an Ocean Act building on the existing Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, and leverages the ocean’s immense potential for Europe’s resilience, food sovereignty, energy supply, security and competitiveness. It will also reinforce cooperation with international initiatives.
This Pact will support six priorities:
• protecting and restoring ocean health,
• boosting sustainable competitiveness of the blue economy,
• supporting coastal, island communities and outermost regions,
• advancing ocean research, knowledge, skills and innovation,
• enhancing maritime security and defence as a prerequisite,
• strengthening EU ocean diplomacy and international rules-based governance.
The Pact is committed to the precautionary principle and the need to ensure an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and an appropriate consideration of associated risk and impacts before advancing with emerging technologies that intervene in marine environments for climate change mitigation, such as marine geoengineering and carbon dioxide removal technologies.