Mission Ocean 2030

The European Union Mission «Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030», a new instrument under Horizon Europe, proposes a systemic approach to the protection and restoration of European oceans, seas and waters.

It aims to support the development and deployment of concrete and innovative solutions, backed by science, in order to (1) protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, (2) prevent and eliminate pollution of our oceans and waters, and (3) make the blue economy sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular.

Between 2021 and 2022, SML was involved in the elaboration of the initial study prior to the start of the Mission, with a focus on issues related to Marine Protected Areas, ecosystem restoration, and innovation strategies in the Atlantic and Arctic basins. As such, we contributed to the identification of relevant indicators to measure the level of protection of the area's waters, as well as to the elaboration of a state of play - demonstrating how far we have to go by 2030.

Since February 2023This is a continuation of the study, SML is involved in the consortium responsible for the Assistance Platform for the implementation of the Ocean Mission. This deploys a wide range of resources: monitoring of international research projects, a website and documentary resources, exchange platforms and communities of practice, and events. Within this support platform, we particularly participate in facilitating the « European Blue Parks Community » bringing together key players in maritime protection.