These are turbulent times. One million species are at risk of extinction and the ecosystems supporting our lives are on the verge of breaking down; we are embroiled in the worst pandemic the world has experienced for 100 years; and climate change impacts are already biting with unprecedented heating, ice melting and climate refugees. EU seas are feeling the heat: Member States have failed to achieve ‘good environmental status’ for our seas and the combined impacts are on a path to cross complex planetary boundaries — triggering irreversible changes to the ecological conditions under which humanity has evolved and thrived.
President von der Leyen and many EU Heads of State or government joined the Leaders Pledge for Nature at the UN Summit on Biodiversity, committing to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The European Commission’s Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies are a blueprint for delivering on that pledge. This document is a toolkit of ocean-related solutions that EU decision-makers, including the Commission, Member State ministers and MEPs, can use to translate those two strategies into tangible and binding action.
All life on the planet came from the ocean, and all life on the planet depends on the ocean. Without a healthy and functioning ocean, life would be unbearable. We need to help it, to help ourselves.
Download: Back to the Source: Saving Europe’s Biodiversity Starts in the Ocean (pdf)
FR: Retour Aux Sources: la sauvegarde de la biodiversité Européenne commence dans l’ocean (pdf)
ES: Volviendo al Origen: para salvar la biodiversidad de Europa, hay que empezer por el océano (pdf)
PT: De Volta à Origem – Salvar a biodiversidade da Europa com eca no Oceano
Back to the Source – Saving Europe’s Biodiversity Starts in the Ocean, jointly published by BirdLife Europe, BLOOM, ClientEarth, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Greenpeace European Unit, IFAW, MEDASSET, Oceana in Europe, Our Fish, Sciaena, Seas At Risk, The Nature Conservancy, WDC – Whale and Dolphin Conservation