United Nations Webinar on “Strengthening the Science-Policy Interface for the Ocean Sustainability”  was organized by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, in cooperation with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. It was held in anticipation of the launch of the Second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II), and in connection with the initial phase of the third cycle (2021-2025) of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (“the Regular Process”), and of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), which both started in January 2021.

The event generated great interest. More than 1,500 participants from 143 countries registered for this event. It sparked some very interesting discussions around the importance of ocean science-policy interface, as well as experience and best practices in strengthening it at all levels.

If you have missed parts of the Webinar, or would like to listen again to some presentations, we invite you to look at the full recording of the event which has been made available here on United Nations Web TV. Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone that may be interested.

We are interested in hearing about your experience during the event, and would appreciate it if you could provide your valuable feedback by filling out a short survey, which you can find here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WPQYSL7

Developed with JPI Oceans members and co-created with stakeholders, the new Strategy Framework provides a coherent setting for the coming years for efficient and impactful pan-European research and innovation, in support of healthy and productive seas and ocean. It builds on the previous design, vision and scope of JPI Oceans, while also directing the lens towards external European and international developments that have emerged since the adoption of JPI Oceans’ first research and innovation agenda. 

An important ambition of the strategy framework is to further strengthen the collaboration of JPI Oceans with EU initiatives, sea basin initiatives, overseas countries, sister JPIs and other partners. To that effect, the JPI Oceans Strategy Framework 2021-2025 provides the strategic basis and the transition to a stand-alone, legal entity (AISBL) ensures the formal status. 

The first round of consultations – carried out in February 2021 and which involved country events and the compilation of a first online questionnaire – produced results which were jointly ratified by the programme’s representatives. The results confirmed the areas of interest and concentration of the programme within the following three fields:

Under Policy Objective 1 (PO1) “a more competitive and smarter Europe and its neighbourhood by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation”:

•           Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies

Under Policy Objective 2 (PO2), “a greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe and its neighbourhood by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation and risk prevention and management”:

•           Promoting climate change adaptation, and disaster risk prevention, resilience, taking into account eco-system based approaches;

•           Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity, and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution.

As the current main goal of the programming process is to identify and detail the fields of action and the potential specific actions to be promoted and funded under the programme, while duly respecting the partnership principle, we invite you to take part in the second round of consultation.

We would kindly ask you to fill in the questionnaire mentioned below, according to your field of expertise, until the 9th of April 2021.

Please note that responses to the questionnaires may be identified and connected with the persons filling them in, persons who, on a voluntary basis, may be invited to comment on the results in an online event organized for this purpose.

Completing the questionnaire may take you about 15 minutes.

You may access the questionnaire for each Policy Objective on the following links:

Questionnaire for PO1

Questionnaire for PO2

Thank you for your interest in the consultation exercise for defining the strategy of the Interreg NEXT BSB programme!

The European Commission welcomes the agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) proposal, worth €33.7 billion, as part of the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027. The Connecting Europe Facility programme supports investment in Europe's transport, energy and digital infrastructure networks. It will support the twin green and digital transition, by contributing to the ambitious targets for the European Green Deal and the Digital Decade.

Find the full press release here!

The Board of Directors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) approved the Bank’s first Climate Change Strategy  that represents the vision and approach to addressing climate change over the next ten-year period and beyond.

The Strategy defines a more purposeful role for the Bank in supporting its shareholders in both mitigating and coping with the impacts of climate change mainly by shifting the financing priorities to more climate positive operations and increasing climate co-benefit potential in its operations.  By doing so, the Bank intends to better align its financing with the Member States’ climate priorities.

The IV Strategic Plan of the Port of Barcelona, recently presented, includes a projection on the maritime traffic trends in Europe for 2040. PortEconomics member Peter de Langen analyze these trends two decades ahead to establish long-term traffic forecasts. 

DigiCirc (@DigiCirc) is an #H2020 #I INNOSUP project that aims to boost the #circulareconomy using digital tools by supporting innovative #SMEs in the development and marketing of solutions based on circular value chains through 3 acceleration programs on the following themes: "#Circularcities", "#BlueEconomy" and "#Bioeconomy".

The #circulareconomy considers the entire life cycle of a product from its production, through its consumption, to the management of the waste produced. It responds to multiple challenges such as dependence on increasingly scarce resources, lack of waste disposal, the resilience of an ecosystem and its economic attractiveness, etc.

In relation with #BlueEconomy, #CircularEconomy aims to eliminate the footprint of human activities that take place both offshore and inland on both marine and coastal environments.

How to reduce that impact through #digitaltechnologies and #CircularEconomy? 

In order to define the current challenges of #BlueEconomy that will be included in the call for projects, DigiCirc would like to collect the opinions of the different key actors of the market (local authorities, companies, population, etc.) with the next questionnaire .

Feel free to contact DIgiCirc for any question on the project or the open calls!!

A practical guide for financial institutions to lead a sustainable ocean recovery

This seminal guidance is a market-first practical toolkit for financial institutions to pivot their activities towards financing a sustainable blue economy.

Designed for banks, insurers and investors, the guidance outlines how to avoid and mitigate environmental and social risks and impacts, as well as highlighting opportunities, when providing capital to companies or projects within the blue economy. 

Five key ocean sectors are explored, chosen for their established connection with private finance: seafood, shipping, ports, coastal and marine tourism and marine renewable energy, notably offshore wind. 

Download the guide and recommendations

The shipping industry is increasingly adopting new IoT technologies and solutions, creating opportunities to digitally connect ships. Among the technologies being implemented are: the adoption of blockchain, the use of data analytics for ship optimisation and the introduction of purpose-built maritime IoT connectivity services. One of the strongest value points for maritime IoT is that it can provide economic and operational benefits to all parts of the maritime ecosystem, including equipment manufacturers, classification societies, service providers, shipyards, shipowners, regulators, fleet managers, charterers and investors .
Read the news on rivieramm.com

The technological and technical innovation taking place in the world of offshore floating wind energy has led to the creation of turbines capable of providing 14,000 kW of power output. Current developments in offshore floating wind power generation combined with the stability technology of water tankers, allow ultra-large turbines providing propulsion to ships. Future research will need to develop methods by which to add low-drag mobility to floating wind turbines in a way that assists ship propulsion. Ships propelled by such technology could likely see service on trans-Pacific routes and trans-Atlantic routes.
Read the news on maritime-executive.com

National Hubs (NH) are key elements of the Black Sea Assistance Mechanism and are established in each 
participating country. NHs are staffed with national experts on maritime and marine issues and function under 
the steer of the central team. Their role is to raise awareness of the opportunities created by the CMA and to 
establish dialogue and active exchange between national key stakeholders. 

In close liaison with the central team, the NHs establish network partnerships on thematic areas and contribute 
to the CMA goals and priorities by analysing barriers, promoting the CMA thanks to a dedicated communication 
stream, supporting national stakeholders in projects and organising dedicated national events. 

Feel free to contact them for any development on Blue Economy in your country!

According to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), shipping contributes almost 3% of annual carbon dioxide emissions. In 2018, delegates agreed to reduce emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050, so alternative fuels, for example ammonia, must be found.
This colourless fuel emits no carbon dioxide when burned, is abundant and common and can be produced using renewable electricity, water and air. It can also be used in fuel cells and internal combustion engines and, unlike hydrogen, does not need to be stored in high-pressure tanks or cryogenic dewars. For all these reasons, ammonia (NH 3 ) is gaining favour in the global maritime industry, so much so that shipowners and industry analysts say they expect ammonia to play a key role in the decarbonisation of cargo ships.
Read the news on spectrum.ieee.org