President Emmanuel Macron to join the Ocean Panel

“As Co-chair of the Ocean Panel, I warmly welcome President Macron and France on board. France is the largest ocean nation in the world, measured in terms of its Exclusive Economic Zone, and will be important in our joint efforts for global sustainable ocean management”, said Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

The ocean holds many of the urgent solutions humanity and the planet need. But the ocean health is at risk. Building a sustainable ocean economy is one of the most important tasks and greatest opportunities of our time. It is critical to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.

On the basis of a common understanding of the need to improve the state of the ocean, the countries in the Ocean Panel have committed to sustainably manage 100 per cent of the ocean area under national jurisdiction by 2025 and to support the global target of protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. Together, the panel countries aim to advance a sustainable ocean economy which benefits coastal communities and national economies now and in the future, while achieving positive outcomes for biodiversity, ocean health and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

In December 2020 the Ocean Panel presented Transformations for a sustainable ocean economy – A Vision for Protection, Production and Prosperity and the entry of France is part of the international drive in support of the Ocean Panel Action Agenda. Leading up to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in 2022, the Ocean Panel will launch a global initiative for its Ocean Action Agenda.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg is also a Patron of the Ocean Decade Alliance, promoting the UN Decade of Ocean Science officially launched on 1 June 2021.

“France joining the Ocean Panel is a great way to initiate the UN Ocean Decade. We are confident that the Panel, with its strong scientific foundation, can play an influential role in forging a shared understanding of the need to protect and produce more from the ocean. With strong maritime and scientific traditions, France’s participation will greatly contribute to realizing this objective. To fully succeed in our vision of a clean, healthy and productive ocean, we urge all other coastal and ocean states to join us to turn the 100 % goal into reality”, said Prime Minister Erna Solberg.