Some EU member states are falling behind on efforts to protect the bloc’s outermost marine regions from climate change and biodiversity loss, highlighting the need for a new ocean deal, the WWF has said. The EU’s outer marine regions, mainly in the Atlantic, host a tiny fraction of the bloc’s population but make up the largest portion of its marine territory with rich biodiversity. These regions fall under the jurisdiction of Spain, Portugal and France. Under the EU’s Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, members must set out plans for how they balance ecological concerns with economic issues such as fishing, tourism, oil and gas, and offshore wind. The WWF found that Portugal’s approach in the Azores region had not been finalised, with more than half the territory yet to be covered by a plan. It also criticised Spain’s “haphazard” approach to offshore wind. Overall, it said member states’ plans were “misaligned with the European Green Deal goals, lacking the necessary coherence and coordination urgently needed to meet the EU’s biodiversity and climate objectives effectively.” Dr Antonia Leroy, Head of Ocean Policy at the WWF European Policy Office, said it was “time for an EU Ocean Deal that includes sound planning of our seas as part of how we secure a resilient and climate-neutral future.”
