The European Union has committed €3.5 billion ($3.71 billion) to safeguard the world’s oceans and promote sustainability through various initiatives this year, according to the EU’s top environment official, Virginijus Sinkevicius. Sinkevicius emphasized the importance of the ocean in our lives and our responsibility to protect it while announcing the initiatives at the “Our Ocean” conference in Athens. The conference, attended by approximately 120 countries, will involve supporting 14 investments and one reform in sustainable fisheries in Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Portugal worth about €1.9 billion. Additionally, €980 million from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility will be allocated to Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, and Spain to support four investments and two reforms aimed at combating marine pollution. The conference aims to promote and support the concept of the “blue economy,” which the World Bank defines as the sustainable utilization of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods, and ocean ecosystem health.
Greece, with its numerous islands and the longest Mediterranean coastline among littoral states, strongly embraces the idea of the blue economy due to its geographical location. At the conference, Greece plans to present its national strategy for marine biodiversity protection. The Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union reported last month that ocean temperatures reached a record high in February, based on data dating back to 1979. Overfishing and plastic pollution remain significant threats to the oceans, with research indicating that the amount of plastic entering the world’s oceans could nearly triple by 2040 without further action.