A Mandate for the Ocean

MEP Grace O’Sullivan on negotiating a European Parliament Resolution on Ocean Governance and Biodiversity

“Whereas the ocean covers 71% of the earth’s surface, produces half of our oxygen, absorbs a third of CO2 emissions and 90% of the excess heat in the climate system, and plays a unique and vital role as a climate regulator in the context of the climate crisis".

This is one of the first paragraphs of the Resolution on Strengthening Ocean Governance and Biodiversity passed by the European Parliament late last year, with the aim of maintaining momentum in the European Union for ‘blue’ climate action. At its heart was the demand for an international institution as large as the European Union to recognise the true value of the ocean to humanity.

In the context of the European Green Deal, where there is justified criticism of decision-makers’ focus on climate considerations and not enough on the biodiversity crisis we are also living through, unfortunately the role of the oceans is often also taken for granted.

Back in the 1980s, at a time when I was a young activist on Greenpeace ships, these issues seemed obvious to us. Overfishing was reaching one of its worst peaks in history at that time and we could already see the impact that it was having on other species like whales and porpoises. The Mediterranean in particular was a hotspot for over-exploitation, and it remains to this day the most overfished sea basin on earth.

Meanwhile the sea was becoming an increasingly militarised place with the Cold War spitting out nuclear submarines and warships at an unprecedented pace. We set up blockades of US aircraft carriers, climbed Russian anchor chains and made a nuisance of ourselves around pipelines, but the machine of exploitation and destruction continued to turn with complete indifference to the value of an untouched ocean.

While it seems a world away at times, I wanted to continue the thread of those activist days in a legislative setting, keeping a focus on ocean health and climate action. In the Parliament that can be done in a number of ways: through legislation such as the European Climate Law, by putting pressure on the Commission and Member States, or by establishing European Parliament precedents with resolutions which draw the battle lines for future legislative negotiations.

Last year, we gathered a group of MEPs to help correct the bias of political institutions and ensure that the protection of the ocean’s biodiversity, as well as its role as a climate regulator, was at the centre of EU and national policymaking. We wanted the European Parliament to adopt a Resolution and firmly establish a position on ocean health.

The drafting of those Resolutions is always a chaotic, complicated, yet cooperative affair. The various political parties of the Parliament put forward their priorities before sitting down and working out a text that everyone is happy to vote in favour of. In theory!

Staff run back and forth with newly edited texts. Assistants get their marching orders from MEPs before early negotiations. A flurry of texts go back and forth between political factions. And when controversial issues come to the fore, MEPs are called in to smooth out the cracks and negotiate line by line. There is a pantomime of political intrigue and bartering.

The Liberals insist on including in the Resolution a mention of food security. Fisheries must be recognised for feeding the multitudes. The Socialists call for language on workers’ rights at sea.

Mariners of the world, unite!

The Conservatives, led by a fleet of Spaniards, object to closing off protected areas to bottom-trawling. Debate erupts.

The Greens, for our part, call for concrete results and not just another vague statement on climate action: an international moratorium on deep seabed mining, and a ban on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic and in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

And when it’s all decided, you have won some battles and lost others and a chimera of a document is sent to be voted on by over 700 MEPs on the chamber floor.

The resolution passed by a massive majority I am happy to say, and I couldn’t help but shout in celebration when the result of the vote was called. We had drawn a line in the sand which called for strong protections for the ocean, including bans on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic and in MPAs. We had won recognition by the European Parliament of the role of the ocean. Those positions set out in the resolution would now be part of every discussion on the ocean from here on in. What we achieved was setting a mandate for the ocean.

Looking ahead, 2023 could be a landmark year for the oceans, if we play our cards right.

Readers of Irish Wildlife will be aware that legislation for MPAs is being put in place this year. This is part of a broader European movement towards covering 30% of our waters with protected areas by 2030. Other EU environmental legislation is coming down the line, and negotiations with more conservative parties and member states will not be easy.

An “Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems” is due soon. Negotiations over the fisheries regulations are ongoing and controversial. An EU Nature Restoration Law, perhaps unprecedented in its scope for both land and sea restoration, is already coming under tremendous pressure from large industry and agricultural bodies. The Common Fisheries Policy could be looking at a complete overhaul.

In each of these areas we already face a massive uphill battle in terms of climate and biodiversity action. In dry ink, we have a contract with the European Parliament. It must be a champion for the ocean!