Commission and United Nations Environment Programme step up cooperation for healthy and productive oceans

Protecting the world’s oceans from the rising threats of pollution, marine litter and overfishing will be a cooperation priority for the Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme next year. Following the recent Commission Communication on Ocean Governance, Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and UN Environment head Erik Solheim, agreed today on a joint cooperation Roadmap. Safeguarding the world’s oceans, on which more than three billion people depend for livelihoods, is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. “I am very pleased to have a strong international partner in the UN Environment Programme,” said Commissioner Vella. “Regional cooperation and good governance is of utmost importance for addressing cumulative pressures to marine environment.” The two organizations will closely collaborate at the upcoming UN Oceans Conference in June and the Our Ocean conference hosted by the European Union in Malta in October 2017.