• Title: Opening speech

• Speaker: State Secretary Astrid Klug
• Occasion: European expert workshop "Countdown 2010 for Marine Ecosystems"
• Date/Location: 18 April 2007, Sylter Hof, Berlin

Welcome

Ladies and Gentlemen, I warmly welcome you to Berlin. Thank you very much for coming all the way to the German capital to support us in finding solutions to one of the most pressing global problems - the conservation and sustainable use of our world's oceans. I am very pleased that our invitation has met with such a great response. The attendance of experts from more than 20 European countries, our esteemed colleagues from the European Commission and from international and non-governmental organizations will guarantee very fruitful discussions and will give credibility and legitimacy to the results of the workshop.

Marine ecosystems: Most used and least protected

The world's oceans are extremely vulnerable. They are one of the most heavily used ecosystems. But at the same time they are the least understood and least protected areas of our planet. What we already know about marine biodiversity is highly alarming. 75% of marine fish stocks are already exploited up to or beyond their biological limit; 25% of these stocks are already endangered and 80% of the Caribbean coral reefs have been destroyed. I could continue presenting you countless alarming figures but I am sure you are very familiar with the extent of the problem. The world's oceans are facing a serious crisis.

Because of the amazing magnitude of the ocean and due to the limitations of technologies to exploit its biological resources and to access remote areas, it seemed for a long time that marine biodiversity was an inexhaustible resource. We all know that technologies have developed at an incredible pace and that today, due to modern technology, fishing and mining are possible in the most remote areas. New possible threats are also emerging such as the storage of CO2 in the marine subsoil. The marine environment and its biological diversity are suffering from a multiple range of mounting pressures. We therefore have to move away from the still prevailing sectoral approach and understand the ecosystem in an integrated manner. We urgently have to apply the ecosystem approach and develop coherent policies and integrated frameworks for the management of all human activities.

While recognizing the mounting threats, we are also increasingly becoming aware of the fundamental role of biological diversity for the global economy and our livelihoods. For instance, the trade in oceanic fisheries is valued at 5.9 billion US dollars a year. The oceans are a significant basis for global nutrition as well as for the sustainable development of thousands of coastal cities and communities. Of current medicines, up to 50 percent are derived from natural products - also marine products. With every species we lose, we might be losing a remedy for global health problems.

European Union - Part of the problem and part of the solution

The EU has a crucial role to play in facing the global problem and finding solutions for a sustainable future. On the one hand, the EU itself is one of the biggest users of the world’s marine ecosystems and the European waters are some of the most intensively used oceanic areas. On the other hand, there is growing awareness of the problem and numerous activities are already underway to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in the European context.

EU Presidency / G8 Presidency / CBD COP9 – The context of the workshop

Achieving the 2010 target to stop the loss of biodiversity and the 2012 target to establish a global network of marine protected areas are crucial priorities for the German government. We have therefore decided to make the conservation of marine biodiversity one of the central topics during our EU and G8 presidencies. We also know that we are very much in line with our colleagues from Portugal and Slovenia. In our joint programme for the triple presidency, the marine ecosystems are high on the political agenda. In this context we very much welcome the IUCN Countdown 2010 Initiative as an important partner for our endeavours. By jointly organizing this workshop together with the IUCN we can create many synergies. The Union is an indispensable partner in the development of European and global solutions.

The main topics of the workshop

The three main topics of this workshop are marine protected areas - especially Natura 2000 -, European marine policies and the conservation of biodiversity on the high seas. In the following I will only give a short overview as the next speakers will deal with each of the topics in much greater detail.

Marine protected areas - Natura 2000

The establishment of marine protected areas is an essential tool in the protection of marine biodiversity. This target has become widely accepted and is reflected in the relevant global and regional marine conventions and initiatives. One of the core decisions of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and of the 7th Conference of the Parties to the CBD was the decision to establish a global network of marine protected areas by 2012, explicitly including areas on the high seas.

On a regional level both the OSPAR Convention and the Helsinki Commission have also been promoting the establishment of marine protected areas since the early 1990s. At their first Joint Ministerial Conference in Bremen in 2003, both Conventions agreed on the establishment of an efficiently managed and coherent network of marine protected areas in the North-East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea by 2010. Since then, contracting parties have nominated marine protected areas to the OSPAR and HELCOM Secretariats, but the number of areas still seems to be very low.

The European Commission has emphasized the importance of extending the implementation of the European Birds and Habitats Directives to the offshore area of the Exclusive Economic Zone or equivalent zones. The Commission has provided a timetable for the completion of the marine Natura 2000 network by 2008. That means we still have a lot of work ahead of us. The identification and designation of offshore sites is certainly the greatest challenge for the Member States due to the lack of scientific knowledge on the one hand, and the mostly unclear legal issues on the other hand. In Germany we learned this lesson from our selection and nomination process of marine Natura 2000 sites in 2004. It is one thing to know something in theory, but another to learn something by doing it. So this is an experience we are happy to share at this workshop. I also look forward to learning from your experiences, for example concerning effective marine management schemes in place in your countries. I am sure that this exchange of ideas on a European level will enable all of us to make joint progress in establishing a coherent network of well-managed protected areas in due time.

Marine policy

Marine environmental policies in Europe have developed over more than 30 years in various regional Conventions. Certain aspects of marine environmental protection were also covered as by-products of various Directives of the European Community. These developments were not always sufficiently convergent, resulting in rather a patchwork of measures at international level. First steps towards a coherent marine policy of the European Community were taken with the Commission's tabling of the "Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine Environment" and the associated proposed "Marine Strategy Directive" in October 2005 and of the Green Paper "Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union" in June 2006.

The Marine Strategy Directive, on which the Council achieved political agreement in December 2006, is based on an ecosystem approach to the management of human activities. It aims at achieving good environmental status by the year 2021. In this context, Germany considers the stipulation that use shall be made of existing regional institutional cooperation structures, such as the Helsinki Commission and the OSPAR Commission with their vast experiences in marine protection, to be of particular importance. The proposed Directive aims to contribute to the coherence between and the integration of environmental concerns into the different policies, agreements and legislative measures which have an impact on the marine environment. While this has been reflected in the proposed Directive, this reflection is not as clear cut as it could be, in particular when it comes to policy issues under the exclusive competence of the Community such as the Common Fisheries and the Common Agricultural Policies. Further improvements should be considered here.
We hope that the remaining readings in the European Parliament and the Council will provide an opportunity for further enhancing the basis for integrating environmental concerns into the various policies that have an impact on the marine environment.
The Green Paper defines a healthy marine environment as one prerequisite for making optimal use of its goods and services. This can only be achieved if the relevant policies are founded on a strong environmental pillar as intended by the Marine Strategy Directive. Only on such a basis will we be able to achieve a long-term sustainable use of our marine ecosystems for our benefit and the benefit of future generations.

High seas

Although there is a clear need for steady improvement and the speeding up of our efforts, we have made important progress in the European policies and regulations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. Unfortunately, if we look at the high seas we have made considerably less progress. But the global community is becoming more and more aware of the need for better implementation of existing regulations and for more integrated approaches and frameworks. The decisions of the Johannesburg Summit, of the CBD and other multilateral fora, the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, the setting up of the UNGA Open ended Working Group and the agendas of the ICP are sending a clear signal. We have to move away from the sectoral approach and find common ways to protect the marine environment in a comprehensive manner. In the EU we have opted for a two-step approach. In the long term we are heading towards the development of an Implementing Agreement to the UNCLOS. In the short and medium term we know that we can achieve important improvements with the enhanced implementation and better coordination of existing regulations.

In New York we saw the clear need to make our position on the two steps more concrete. On the one hand, there was still wide opposition to the idea of an Implementing Agreement, partly because we were still not able to present more details of our proposal regarding for instance the scope and institutional arrangements for such an agreement. With more details it will be easier to convince our partners and get more support. Australia, New Zealand and Canada, for instance, have expressed a general interest in our approach but have requested more explanations. However, the call for the improved implementation of existing regulations, which is generally supported by all states, remains without consequences if we do not specifically address which regulations should be improved in which way. I hope that we will be able to put our ideas in more concrete terms during this workshop.

Outlook

The aim of this workshop is to develop concrete recommendations for EU policies and for the global governance process. I hope that from Berlin we will give a clear signal to step up our common efforts to protect the world’s oceans for our wellbeing and the wellbeing of future generations. With this in mind, I wish us all a very fruitful and successful meeting.