WWF: Organization calls for protection and commitment for the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean region has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing a difficult 2020 tourism season. On today’s (8.6.) World Oceans Day, WWF is calling on the 22 coastal countries and territories to address the overexploitation of the sea.
The Mediterranean region has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing a difficult 2020 tourism season. On today’s (8.6.) World Oceans Day, WWF is calling on the 22 coastal countries and territories to address the overexploitation of the sea.
The Mediterranean provides important natural resources that ensure economic prospects and stability for people.
The WWF initiative «A Blue Recovery for the Mediterranean» examined the ecological and economic state of the Mediterranean region in 2020 and puts forward a series of recommendations needed to maintain a healthy marine ecosystem by 2030, generate jobs, and create better living conditions.
According to WWF estimates, the Mediterranean provides ecological services worth 450 billion US dollars per year, equivalent to more than half of the EU recovery fund per year. However, the Mediterranean can only deliver these services if effective measures are taken to protect it and sustainable economic development is implemented across borders.
Ecological disasters and climate warming in the Mediterranean
«Ecological disasters, climate warming, refugee crises, unemployment, and not least the coronavirus crisis: the Mediterranean region is in a state of emergency,» says Giuseppe Di Carlo, Director of the WWF Mediterranean Initiative. «The Mediterranean needs effective protection and sustainable planning and management of all major economic maritime activities,» adds Alice Eymard-Duvernay, Head of Ocean at WWF Switzerland.
The Mediterranean is the only and most important treasure of natural resources for 22 coastal countries and territories. The halt in maritime activities caused by COVID-19 has shown that fish stocks and marine habitats can recover quickly when pressure on them is reduced. If future generations are also to benefit from the Mediterranean, we must give it time to recover. Currently, just 1.27 percent of the Mediterranean is effectively protected.
30 Percent Marine Protected Areas as a Goal
According to leading scientists, however, 30 percent would be necessary. Marine protected areas are of crucial importance for the recovery of fish stocks, fisheries, tourism, and climate regulation. An overexploited Mediterranean will inevitably lead to a decline in major maritime economic sectors. Sustainable planning and management of these sectors (shipping, aquaculture, recreational boating, leisure, small-scale fishing, cruises, and offshore wind farms) is needed, and many livelihoods depend on them. Years of overfishing have made the Mediterranean the most heavily exploited sea in the world. Fisheries have collapsed, fleets have shrunk, small-scale fishers have been displaced from their livelihoods, and young people have been driven away from coastal communities. The protection of the seas is also central to biodiversity.
Over the past 20 years, the volume of aquaculture in the Mediterranean has quadrupled and now accounts for more than half of total fisheries production. Shipping is expected to grow by 4 percent per year. More than half of the world’s superyachts plow through Mediterranean waters every summer, threatening the seabed in marine protected areas with their anchors. “A ‘business as usual’ approach keeps us trapped in a constant state of crisis,” says Di Carlo. “We now need serious multinational and multi-sectoral commitment to a sustainable future. The decision is ours.”
