TURNING THE TIDE ON EU SEAS WITH A GREEN RECOVERY — JUNE 2020 — JUNE 2020 TURNING THE TIDE ON EU SEAS WITH A GREEN RECOVERY 1 TURNING THE TIDE ON EU SEAS WITH A GREEN RECOVERY — JUNE 2020 — Oceans cover almost three-quarters The paper dives into examples of investment opportunities in an effort of the planet, yet we are only just SUMMARY to illustrate how a green recovery for the oceans is possible, beginning to discover the true extent of these ecosystems and their impacts on our lives. The marine for instance by: environment provides up to two-thirds of the ecosystem services supplied by the planet’s natural capital. We know l Actively restoring marine ecosystems, such as rebuilding oyster reefs and fish passages in coastal dams that the marine environment, and therefore the blue economy — This can stimulate economic activities in sectors such as marine construction while increasing fish that depends on it, is particularly vulnerable. The climate and production, improving water quality and recovering threatened ecosystems. biodiversity crises have not been put on hold because of the pandemic and continue to need urgent attention and action. l Enabling transparent, accountable and more selective fishing activities by scaling up remote electronic monitoring (REM) There is great potential in green recovery where investments — This type of technology further increases the transparency of catch data and improves deliver a healthier environment and a healthier economy. confidence in scientific assessments. Investments in the marine environment can yield particularly l Stopping plastic pollution at its source through investing in the re-use/rental/re-fill sectors large returns. Yet, it is estimated that governments around the world spend over 22 billion dollars annually on capacity- — This win-win investment creates employment opportunities while stopping harmful pollution enhancing, harmful financial incentives and subsidies in the streams that are expensive or impossible to clean up. fisheries sector alone. The marine ecosystem is already on the brink, yet the EU continues to invest in these harmful The biodiversity and climate crises and the need to rebuild the EU’s economy go hand incentives. The EU’s Green Recovery plan is a golden in hand. There is no reason not to invest in a green future for the ocean. Following opportunity to ensure that these resources are redirected and contribute to a sustainable recovery also at sea. the EU Green Deal, the Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm to Fork Strategy, future Authors: Bruna Camposa, Alice Belinb, financial commitments that impacts seas and oceans must continue to build on this Long-term policies will need to enable a true Green Recovery. Griffin Carpenterc, Nils Courcyd, momentum and walk the walk of this political agenda. Financial investments will be mobilised to mitigate the e f Vera Coelho , Rebecca Hubbard , economic fall-out of the COVID-19 crisis and to align the EU g h Gonçalo Carvalho , Antidia Citores , with its Green Deal ambitions. Therefore, it is crucial that the Lauren Lopesa, Andrea Ripolb, new recovery instrument, Next Generation EU and funding John Maggsb, Frédérique Mongodinb, programmes such as the EMFF enable the EU to tackle our Marc-Philip Buckhoutb, Ann Domb, long-term environmental crisis and avoid undesirable trade- Monica Verbeekb, Anna Holli offs, while simultaneously improving the Union’s current economic prospects. aStichting BirdLife Europe, bSeas At Risk, cNew Economics Foundation, dClientEarth, eOceana Europe, fOur Fish, gScieana, hSurfrider Foundation Europe, iWWF Stichting BirdLife Europe & Central Asia gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Commission and the Mava Foundation. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the producers and cannot be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders mentioned above.» 3 TURNING THE TIDE ON EU SEAS WITH A GREEN RECOVERY — JUNE 2020 — With the publication of the INTRODUCTION EU GREEN DEAL IN 2019, followed by the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies in 2020, the EU must now change how it invests in order to align with these overarching policies. Financial investments will be mobilised to mitigate the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 crisis in the EU. Increased efforts are expected through the recovery instrument, Next Generation EU, which intends to mobilise significant resources from the financial markets and relay those to the Member States through both existing and new programmes, in order to support their economic recovery. Long-term policies will need to confront the current reality, including the Fortunately, an investment plan already exists for this moment. The Blue Manifesto2, supported by funds under the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) such as over 100 environmental NGOs, offers a plan to achieve healthy oceans by 2030. This plan is even the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Many of the investments will more relevant in the context of tackling the climate and biodiversity crises while having a successful be linked to regulatory changes such as effectively protecting 30% of the EU’s economic recovery post COVID-19. This paper focuses on the opportunities that can be made available seas, with the strictest protection applying to one third of those areas. by investing in the three main areas set out in the Blue Manifesto: nature restoration & conservation, a The climate and biodiversity crises have not been put on hold because of the transition to sustainable and low impact seafood, and tackling pollution. pandemic and continue to need urgent attention and action. Therefore, it is crucial that the new recovery instrument and funding programmes such as the EMFF enable the EU to tackle our long-term environmental crisis and avoid undesirable ACHIEVING THE BLUE MANIFESTO: trade-offs, while simultaneously improving the Union’s current economic prospects. INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES Whether the post COVID-19 recovery efforts will result in a truly sustainable future for the EU depends on the orientation of the recovery response and The Blue Manifesto has identified three main paths that the EU needs to tackle in order to future investment. Given the sheer volume of potential support, individual achieve healthy oceans by 2030: restore natural areas, transition to sustainable and low impact response investment options should be appraised using a framework1 of ten seafood systems, and halt pollution. To this end, investments that are made to achieve these principles (e.g. efficiency, rationality, and anti-abuse), in order to balance the goals while ensuring they do not expand the overcapacity of sectors are positive investment needs of a healthy marine environment. Utilising these same principles, this opportunities. These will not only support coastal areas in recovering from COVID-19, but also paper looks at the investment opportunities that can stimulate the economy. support tackling the biodiversity and climate crises - enabling a green recovery for the oceans. 1 • Carpenter, G., 2020. Setting the Right Safety Net: A Framework for Fisheries Support Policies in Response to Covid-19. New Economics Foundation. 4 5 2 • https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/blue-manifesto-roadmap-healthy-ocean-2030 TURNING THE TIDE ON EU SEAS WITH A GREEN RECOVERY — JUNE 2020 — Another example is the restoration of fish migration paths. Around the world, fish have been NATURE RESTORATION restricted in their ability to swim from seawater to fresh water or vice versa. The reason for this is the global construction of dams, dykes and other obstacles in rivers and delta areas. In & CONSERVATION the Waddenzee, Netherlands, it cost approximately €60 million8 to improve the connectivity Oceans degrade because of various human activities and there is a pressing need to halt the decline of rivers and oceans by building a permanent entrance in the Afsluitdijk - a dam that prevents fish from migrating up the river. This is an active method of restoring fish accessibility to their in biodiversity and restore lost ecosystem functioning and services at sea. The EU has established spawning grounds and helps restore wild fish populations, including the critically endangered key legislation to ensure this happens, including the Birds Directive, the Habitats Directive and the Atlantic salmon. Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The new EU Biodiversity Strategy further includes legislation to set restoration targets. Although some types of active restoration can have relatively high costs, certain species and habitats cannot recover without active manipulation. Therefore, active restoration is crucial to restore certain types of habitats and species. Restoration is the attempt to recover the original state of the ecosystem through active manipulation or passive natural recovery. Conservation is the act of preserving the current system by mitigating —2— PASSIVE RESTORATION human activities. Restoring and conserving nature at sea can create long-lasting ecosystem services and research has shown that restoration and conservation efforts can lead to significant employment Passive restoration is the concept of allowing the ecosystem to naturally recover by limiting 3 generation in various sectors . Employment impacts can be immediate, for example, through construction human pressure. The use of passive restoration methods is more widespread because it is linked work, but further long-term opportunities can also be created for tourism, which is among the