At Our Ocean Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea, the European Union announced €301,485,000 in EU funding to support actions in the fields of the sustainable blue economy, marine pollution, marine protected areas, digital oceans, sustainable fisheries, and ocean and climate change.
The Our Ocean Conference is an international event, by invitation only, launched in 2014 and hosted by a different country each year. The Secretariat is hosted by the Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI). The conference aims to foster global ocean governance and action to support marine conservation and sustainable development.
This is the 10th year of the conference, April 28-30. The 2025 focus is on the accomplishments, and best practices stemming from voluntary commitments made by the global ocean community over the past decade. Under the umbrella of ‘Digital Oceans’, the conference is exploring the intersection of technology and ocean conservation.
The European Union has committed:
- Blue Economy: €120 million to help African and Pacific countries strengthen ocean governance and develop their blue economy in a sustainable manner. This corresponds to €58 million for the Western Indian Ocean and €42 million for Central Africa, and €20 million for the Pacific.
- Marine pollution: €65.5 million to fight marine pollution-pending Commission decision. This funding will provide €18 million to develop a comprehensive European strategy for assessing and monitoring aquatic litter, €43.5 million to support authorities eliminating pollution and transitioning to a more climate-neutral and circular blue economy, and €4 millions of technical assistance to support up to 50 targeted communities in preparing transition agendas, driving local change and promoting sustainable practices.
- Marine protected areas: €40 million to support partner countries in their efforts to preserve and sustainably manage marine biodiversity areas and swiftly ratify the Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement.
- Digital ocean: Through the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, €30 million are committed to the Digital Twin Ocean.
- Sustainable fisheries: €2.5 million to support the implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) to effectively fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
- Ocean and climate change: €985.000 to strengthen the ‘International Platform for Ocean Sustainability’ (IPOS), to enhance the exchange of scientific knowledge and policy expertise, driving informed decision-making for ocean conservation.
The EU has developed a commitment tracking tool available on the Our Ocean website. This allows citizens to follow the progress of the implementation of all the commitments made at all Our Ocean Conferences.
