Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll dive into one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Life Below Water.

We'll look at current challenges and review global and EU efforts to ensure the sustainability of our oceans.

Ready to plunge into this subject with us?

Ours is a watery planet. Around 70% of it is covered by water. Moreover, oceans contain 80% of all life forms,

produce half of the Earth's oxygen and are key to regulating

the climate. In addition, ocean and seas are a source of income for many people around the world.

In the EU, the blue economy provides for 4.5 million direct jobs, in sectors ranging from fisheries, maritime transport and coastal tourism

to more innovative ones such as renewable ocean energy and the blue bioeconomy.

But we're putting all these at risk. The effects of climate change caused by increasing greenhouse

gas emissions are devastating for oceans.

They result in rising water temperatures, acidification, increased flooding and loss of marine biodiversity.

These, combined with other man-made stresses, such as pollution and overfishing, reduce the resilience of oceans and threaten the

entire planet and our own future on it.

So, what is the EU doing to protect our oceans?

Let's hear Karin Friedrich Skollart and Karin Jacobs from the European Parliamentary Research Service.

To manage maritime activity sustainably and cope with different environmental pressures,

the EU has implemented over the years a wide range of policies.

The first and most obvious one is the Common Fisheries Policy.

It is one of the oldest EU policies and it has been reformed several times to better respond

to sustainability challenges.

Also the maritime transport sector and its ports are earmarked as important blue economy

...