Infosheet
EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters
The goal of the Mission on Ocean is to restore our ocean and waters by 2030.
Published on | 2 years ago
Last updated on | 2 weeks ago
pascal.verheye@vlaio.be
What the Ocean and Waters Mission deals with
The goal of the Mission on Ocean is to restore our ocean and waters by 2030
Man-made changes are putting our ocean and waters at serious risk leading to pollution, biodiversity loss and extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves.
Therefore, the 3 Mission objectives are :
- Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity in line with EU biodiversity strategy.
- Prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and waters in line with the EU action plan towards zero pollution.
- Make the blue economy carbon neutral and circular in line with the European Climate law.
Ocean Mission Implementation Plan
The Ocean Mission Implementation Plan aims to be the operational blueprint for how the Commission will deliver on the overall objective of the Mission on Ocean.
Mission Ocean, Seas and Waters : open calls
In early 2022, the first calls for proposals under Horizon Europe will make available €114 million to support the rolling out of the Mission. Alongside Horizon Europe the Mission also mobilises the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), InvestEU and other EU programmes. Together they will provide around €500 million in seed funding during 2021-23.
Open & forthcoming Ocean and Waters Mission calls can be consulted on the Funding & Tenders Portal. Forthcoming and open calls under the Ocean Mission are published here. On 17 February 2023 the Commission organised the first Ocean Mission Annual Forum. You can rewatch the Forum here.
Results of EU-funded Water-related projects
A portfolio of projects & results on water research and innovation funded under past framework programmes FP6 (2002-2006), FP7 (2007-2013) and Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) and the current Horizon Europe framework programme (2021-2027) can be found in the CORDIS database.
A Synergy Info Pack showcases 34 research projects funded through the complementary programmes of Horizon 2020 (including SME Instrument), LIFE and EMFF.
Ocean and Water-related projects supported by European Regions can be found in the KOHESIO database.
First assessment of the Oceans Mission
The Commission has made its first assessment of the EU Missions in a Communication published in the 3rd quarter of 2023. It expresses the Commission’s support for the continuation of the 5 EU Missions. An external assessment of EU Missions was commissioned to underpin the Commission assessment, including a review of the Oceans Mission. You can find the summary of this review here & the full review is available here.
What are Missions?
Find it out here.
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Testimonial
Miricle - Mine Risk Clearance for Europe
The Miricle project, ‘Mine Risk Clearance for Europe’, obtained funding under the European Defence Industrial Development programme call ‘Underwater control contributing to resilience at sea’. The main objective of the project was to achieve a European and sovereign capacity in future mine warfare and create a path for the next generation ‘made in Europe’ countermeasure solutions. In order to realise this objective, Miricle addressed various stages: studies, design, prototyping and testing. These stages inter alia included the successful testing of an XL Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, a protototyped mine disposal system and multiple innovative systems to detect buried mines. Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), was one of the five Belgian partners in the consortium. Within the project, VLIZ was able to forward its research on the acoustic imaging of the seabed to spatially map and visualize buried structures and objects - in this case buried mines - in the highest possible detail. VLIZ also led the work on ‘Port and Offshore Testing’, building on the expertise of the institute in the field of marine operations and technology.
