The health of the oceans and seas enters the EU's climate strategy. At the Our Ocean Conference of Panama the Union has announced an investment of 800 million euros for this year alone in water defense. The largest amount ever allocated to intervene on the seas and on the seabed. «The greatest resource of the ocean is not material, but given by the unlimited source of inspiration and well-being that we draw from it» the French oceanographer once said Jacques Cousteau. The oceans serve life and their health has multiplier impacts on the global economy. Faced with the progressive pollution, the invasion of plastics, the melting glaciers, the European Union, announcing such a massive expenditure at the Panama summit, intended link the environmental operation to the economy and the traffic of the sea. The blue economy is a big topic; it needs to be decarbonised and there are currently 29 open projects in the world. Many times these projects are underestimated by states that do not have direct access to the oceans. But their economies are, in any case, linked to large traffics and to the strategies of the shipping companies. The signal of these environment-economy interrelationships is provided by the Conference itself which since 2014 has mobilized more than 100 billions of dollars. Instead, it is time to "clean marine and fresh waters, restore degraded ecosystems and habitats and decarbonise the blue economy", writes Brussels in a note.
The blue economy is for growth
It was the World Bank that recalled that the blue economy has substance "in the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, for the improvement of livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems". It's all brought together under the heading saving of the sea that moves interest for 150 billion euros
A realistic judgment behind which there is the problem of rights on international waters. A few days ago Canada claimed its own addendum against Russia, new rights over the waters of the Baltic Sea. Thus, the topic of the non-exclusive economic zones of any state. The UN has invited the countries participating in Panama to sign a pact of peaceful respect. On the contrary, precisely in the areas "without rights", the drilling of the companies in search of hydrocarbons has resumed for some months. There are, however, energy companies that support international organizations in awareness campaigns for the health of the seas.
In Naples, the Ocean&Climate Village Exhibition
The German E.ON, for example, is a partner of the traveling exhibition Ocean&Climate Village created by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO). E.ON Italia for its part is involved in the Energy4Blue initiative to increase the commitment, which obviously requires money, to reclaim water and help the ecological transition along the coasts. From Monday 6 March the Exhibition arrives in Naples at the Castel dell'Ovo and will remain there until 12 March. Among the promoters, in addition to the Municipality of Naples, E.ON, CNR Anton Dhorn Zoological Station, Federico II University. The exhibition is dedicated to the ocean and the climate and is presented as a interactive journey to know the depths and the life of the sea. Many meetings and debates including one dedicated to the blue economy which is one of the mission of the IOC- UNESCO since 1960, where the well-being Cousteau spoke of is declined in many ways.
