{"id":16385,"date":"2025-03-09T07:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T07:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mundusmaris.org\/non-categorizzato\/3rd-starfish-mission-forum-brussels-4-march-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T20:11:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T20:11:33","slug":"3rd-starfish-mission-forum-brussels-4-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mundusmaris.org\/it\/attivita\/protezione-del-oceano-e-del-clima\/3rd-starfish-mission-forum-brussels-4-march-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Starfish Mission Forum, Brussels, 4 March 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU Mission \u2018Restore our Ocean and Waters\u2019 held its third annual forum meeting on 4 March 2025 in the Charlemagne Building in Brussels. The opening was managed by \u2018the usual suspects\u2019 including Pascal Lamy, the Mission Board Chair, preceded by European Commissioners Costas Kadis, in charge of Fisheries and Oceans,\u00a0 and Ekaterina Zaharieva, in charge of Start-ups, Research and Innovation.<\/p>\n

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From left to right: MEP Christophe Clergeau, Ambassador, Olivier Poivre d\u2019Arvor, EU Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva, Mission Board Chair Pascal Lamy, a representative of EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis, and Director of Jacques Delors Institute Sylvie Matelly.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>

Speaking after two EU Commissioners, the French Ambassador to the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nizza, 9-13 June 2025, Olivier Poivre d\u2019Arvor, reminded the audience that Europe with its overseas territories has globally the largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and great responsibility for the ocean. He placed particular emphasis on the challenge to step up the exploration of the ocean. He emphasised the need for all EU member states to urgently ratify the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) so that a sufficient number of ratifications can be announced at UNOC3 for the BBNJ Treaty to enter into force and justify a special space for this achievement at the conference.<\/p>\n

MEP Christophe Clergeau, representing the Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas Intergroup of the European Parliament, spoke forcefully in favour of the implementation of the many good European Environment Directives and the provisions of the Common Fisheries Policy. He underlined that this was crucial to reap the benefits of good environmental status and the prohibition of overfishing. Anything short of that would undermine the credibility among citizens.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Pascal Lamy summarised his key concerns \u2013 we need hope, confidence and pride in our efforts to heal and protect the ocean. He expressed his gratitude to the many project participants and efforts by staff in the many organisations and institutions to translate Mission Starfish into an impressive array of activities. He wants everybody to understand the ocean as a planetary system and argues in favour of a European Ocean Pact currently under development as a major contribution to UNOC3 and well beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>

On the road to the Ocean Pact, Kestutis Sadauskas, Mission Manager at the Commission\u2019s Directorate General MARE, listed many of the ‘irons already in the fire’, among them:<\/p>\n