By Seas At Risk

28 JANUARY 2020

Environmental NGOs launch new rescue plan for Europe to make our ocean healthy by 2030 – Today, 102 environmental organisations, led by Seas At Risk, BirdLife Europe, ClientEarth, Oceana, Surfrider Foundation Europe and WWF are launching the “Blue Manifesto”. The rescue plan lays out concrete actions which must be delivered by set dates in order to turn the tide on the ever-degraded and polluted ocean and coastlines.

To be successful, change is needed on both land and sea. The NGOs call for:

• At least 30% of the ocean to be highly or fully protected by 2030
• Shift to low-impact fishing
• Securing a pollution-free ocean
• Planning of human activities that support the restoration of thriving marine ecosystems

The situation in marine ecosystems around the world is dire, as stressed by recent reports released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and by the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (3). Urgent action is needed and Europe can play a leading role in facing this challenge. Heeding the recommendations presented in the Blue Manifesto will put Europe on the right track to protect and restore the ocean, which is under increasing threat and on which life on Earth depends (4). With the European Green Deal (5), the European Commission has committed to implement real climate and biodiversity strategies that will shift investment and legislation towards a climate-resilient and ecologically diverse future. NGOs now call on the European Commission to ensure the ocean is an integral part of these strategies by following the guidelines proposed in the Blue Manifesto.  Click here to read more