EU Statement – UN General Assembly Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea: New Maritime Technologies

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EU Statement - UN General Assembly Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea: New Maritime Technologies

09.06.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

5 June 2023, New York - Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States at the Twenty-third meeting of the Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (5 to 9 June 2023): "New Maritime Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities"

- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY -

Co-Chairs,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. Since this is our first intervention at this meeting, we would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Co-Chairs.

We wish to begin by reiterating our support for the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea. This process allows us to come together and discuss key topics and issues in the area of oceans and the law of the sea in an open and inclusive forum. We would like to thank the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, for their continual support and effort.

The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future. The ocean is an important source of the planet's biodiversity and plays a vital role in the climate system and water cycle. The ocean provides a range of ecosystem services, supplies us with oxygen to breathe, contributes to food security, nutrition and decent jobs and livelihoods, acts as a sink and reservoir of greenhouse gases and protects biodiversity, provides a means for maritime transportation, and plays an essential role in sustainable development. However, the ocean and its ecosystems, as well as coastal and island communities are facing serious threats, particularly in relation to climate change. To mention a few: sea levels are rising, the ocean is warmer and more acidic, marine pollution is increasing at an alarming rate, a third of fish stocks are overexploited, marine biodiversity continues to decrease and approximately half of all living coral has been lost.

Marine technology is essential to provide the solutions to address these and other key challenges of Ocean and Health Sustainability, as expressed in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). Science, technology and innovation play an essential role in achieving sustainable ocean action, and therefore in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: "Life Below Water".

In this context, we would like to highlight the importance of cooperation to ensure that all States are able both to implement the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and to benefit from the sustainable development of the oceans and seas. This cooperation includes capacity-building and transfer and development of marine technology in relation to the exploration, exploitation, conservation and management of marine resources, the protection and preservation of the marine environment, marine scientific research and other activities in the marine environment compatible with the Convention.

The European Union and its Member States welcome the focus on "New Maritime Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities" at this year's Informal Consultative Process.

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In parallel to measures being taken at national level by EU Member States, the underlying need for reinforcing cooperation also emerges in several initiatives taken at the European Union level.

The European Green Deal aims to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and stop climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and cut pollution. In the same vein, the EU's international Ocean Governance Agenda, updated in 2022, sets several priorities for the EU in the field of ocean governance. These include halting and reverse the loss of marine biodiversity, ensuring sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, fighting marine pollution, building up ocean knowledge and investing in the ocean.

In line with these priorities, the EU has invested in several programmes and projects for supporting new maritime technologies:

• Horizon Europe. This EU funding programme for research and innovation (2021-2027), together with the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, offers tools to facilitate collaboration and strengthen the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing new maritime technologies. In particular, Horizon Europe makes this possible through its Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030", the "European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive blue economy", and the "Zero Emission Waterborne Transport Partnership". Concretely, Horizon Europe provides the opportunity to address, for instance, the transition to renewable energy for shipping.
• Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030". The mission sets ambitious objectives to make the blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, as well as to protect and restore marine ecosystems and biodiversity. To this end, smart and environmentally friendly fishing gears, multi-purpose use of marine space, green and energy-efficient small-scale fishing vessels and related operations are among the mission's key priorities.
• Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO). The DTO is a virtual representation of the Ocean and its ecosystems. The DTO can provide knowledge and interfaces necessary to make informed decisions about the use and management of ocean resources, helping to support a sustainable blue economy. The DTO can be used, for example, to identify and predict the impact of human activities such as pollution, shipping, and marine energy exploitation on ocean biodiversity and ecosystems, allowing for proactive measures to be taken to minimize these impacts. The DTO can be also used to monitor and predict ocean currents, tides weather patterns, extreme heat waves and sea level rise, which can help with the planning and management of coastal and offshore infrastructures and areas. The DTO's ambition is to make ocean knowledge readily available to citizens, entrepreneurs, scientists, and policymakers by providing them with an innovative set of user-driven, interactive and visualisation tools.
• EU Space Programme. This programme implements space activities in the fields of Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation, Connectivity, Space Research and Innovation. Two of its flagship components are the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and GALILEO. Both components contribute through positioning, navigation and timing solutions used, for instance, for reduction of maritime emissions through route optimisation. In addition, there is the Copernicus Maritime Surveillance Service, which provides with Earth Observation products to support a better understanding and improved monitoring of human activities at sea. These include maritime safety, maritime security, customs, law enforcement, marine pollution monitoring, fisheries control and international cooperation.

More information is contained in our submission to this meeting, which can be found on the DOALOS website.

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These projects are merely a few examples of tools that are being used to improve cooperation, optimise resources, and share data and information. However, we acknowledge that there are still many issues that need to be overcome and gaps that need to be bridged.

For example:

• More investments are needed for some of the new maritime technologies to truly flourish, such as those in relation to marine renewable energies.
• We must carefully consider the possible impacts of new maritime technologies on the coastal and marine environment and pay attention to the possible cumulative impacts at local and regional scales.
• Regarding energy transition in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, technical challenges such as space and safety requirements, knowledge and innovation gaps, a lack of required skills in the workforce and financial challenges create also issues in relation to their adoption and further development.
• In relation to new technologies in fisheries monitoring and control, we must consider data protection and privacy as well as the standardisation of data and processes.

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We look forward to constructive discussions on ways in which we can further our knowledge and understanding and improve international cooperation on new maritime technologies so that we can improve the management of human activities in the ocean to ensure a truly sustainable blue economy.