EU plans to clean marine environment in 15 years
January 2005, Europa News

The European Commission has proposed a new strategy to ensure that all EU marine waters are environmentally healthy within 15 years. Loss of marine biodiversity due to contamination by dangerous substances, excess nutrients, the impact of commercial fishing, and effects of climate change are the major problems out lined by the Commission that the strategy is supposed to address.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says “Europe’s seas and oceans make a huge contribution to our quality of life and our economic prosperity, but they are deteriorating because of over exploitation, pollution, climate change and a range of other factors. This is an area where there is a strong need for a European overarching and a integrated approach”. The Commission has developed an integrated policy framework to help deal with the pressures and negative impacts on the marine environment. According to Dimas the strategy lays down clear operational guidelines on how to achieve good environmental status for all of the EU’s marine areas by 2021.
The 25 EU member states share responsibility for the Baltic Sea, the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, each of which has its own distinctive environmental characteristics. To take account of regional differences, the common objectives and methods set forth in the Commission proposal are to be implemented at the level of the three marine regions. In each region and possibly in the subregions to which they belong, the Member States concerned must coordinate their actions with each other and with the third countries involved. To this end they can benefit from the experience and capabilities of existing regional organisations.

The member states’ plans are to include a detailed assessment of the state of environment, clear environmental targets and monitoring programs. No specific management measures will be set down at the EU level, but national plans must be checked and approved by the Commission.

Member states who share marine areas with countries that are not members of the EU will be encouraged to cooperate closely with these third countries, within the framework of existing regional seas conventions. Each member state will draw up a program of cost-effective measures aimed at delivering good environmental status of the marine environment. Impact assessments, including detailed cost-benefit analyses of the measures proposed, will be required prior to the introduction of any new measure. The national programs will have to be approved by the Commission.