A new marine conservation initiative was launched recently, aiming to protect the fragile sea environment in seven countries, including Greece.
The initiative, dubbed Revive Our Ocean, aims to initially help local communities establish marine protected areas, in order to protect at least a third of the world’s ocean by the end of the decade.
It is led by the NGO Dynamic Planet with the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas and will focus initially on tackling overfishing and ocean climate impacts in Greece, Britain, Portugal, Turkey, Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Greece, which has the largest coastline in the Mediterranean, according to a report published earlier this month, is lagging behind in fulfilling its commitments to protect the marine environment, with just 15 percent of national marine protected areas (MPAs) implemented.
Organizers behind the Revive Our Ocean initiative say overall MPA creation has been far too slow, noting that more than 190,000 protected areas would need to be established in order to meet the “30 by 30” target -to bring 30 percent of the oceans under formal protection by 2030.
They also said that establishing marine protected areas would also have economic benefits, noting a study showing that they improved fishing yields and also boosted tourism.
“Marine protected areas are good businesses,” said Kristin Rechberger, the founder of Revive Our Ocean.
Revive Our Ocean is one of the co-producers of Ocean with David Attenborough, a breathtaking film on raising awareness that the ocean can recover from devastation, which will premier on May 8th, coinciding with Attenborough’s 99th birthday. David Attenborough is globally known for his marine conservation efforts and love for the sea.
How is Greece doing in terms of protecting its seas and establishing marine protected areas
A report by WeSeaYou, published in mid April, noted that Greece is seriously lagging behind in fulfilling its commitments for the protection of the marine environment, thus far meeting just 15 percent of its responsibilities.
This is the first report of the digital platform—the first in Greece designed to independently track the implementation of national commitments for the protection of the marine environment. The report highlights that Greece is making slow progress on all of its 21 maritime conservation promises as outlined at the 9th Our Ocean Conference held in Athens in April 2024.
WeSeaYou paints a troubling picture when it comes to Greece’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): just 15 percent of national MPA commitments have been implemented, while compliance with EU laws on conservation measures for Natura 2000 sites and maritime spatial planning stand at 10 percent and five percent respectively.
Greece has 446 areas included in the Natura 2000 network (protected areas within the European Union), 174 of which are marine or partially marine protected areas.
Even more troubling is a serious delay in banning bottom trawling—a destructive fishing method where fishing gear is dragged along the seabed—in marine protected areas, allowing severe damage to ecosystems at the bottom of the sea. So far Greece has taken zero steps to ban the method. Similarly, Greece has made no progress in the mapping of marine habitats in any marine protected areas, nor in identifying marine habitats, migratory routes or implementing protection systems for endangered sea turtles such as Caretta Caretta.
At the same time, Greece has initiated legislative efforts to expand marine protected areas to 32 percent of national waters (from today’s 18.3 percent), with the establishment of two national marine parks. However, the report flags as “extremely worrying” the launch of the process “for the granting of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation concessions in two new areas adjacent to the new national marine park” in the Ionian Sea.
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