Today, at the Our Ocean Conference in Panama, the EU is confirming its strong engagement for international ocean governance by announcing 39 commitments for action for the year 2023. These actions will be funded by €816.5 million. This is one of the biggest amounts ever announced by the EU since the start of the Our Ocean conferences in 2014.
At the Our Ocean Conference, the EU is taking commitments for action covering all themes of this event: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), marine pollution, climate change, sustainable fisheries, sustainable blue economies, and maritime security. In addition to the commitments, the EU is also today joining the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Action Alliance.
The theme of the 2023 edition is ‘Our Ocean, Our Connection’, which calls for new commitments and joint efforts worldwide in support of a secure, clean and sustainably managed ocean.
Originally launched in 2014, the Our Ocean Conference has since mobilised more than 1 800 commitments worth approximately $108 billion and protected more than five million square miles of ocean.
During this 8th edition of the ‘Our Ocean Conference’, Panama will seek to support collaboration around 6 areas of actions: climate change, sustainable fisheries, sustainable blue economies, marine protected areas, maritime safety and marine pollution. In addition, the conference will also pay attention to the specific themes of plastics marine pollution and sustainable tourism.
The EU has developed a commitment tracking tool available on the Our Ocean website. This allows citizens to follow the progress of the implementation of all the commitments made at all Our Ocean Conferences.