The Ocean and Waters Are Under Threat

• Author: Pascal Lamy - Peter Heffernan - Klara Ramm - Boyan Slat - Antidia Citores - Darko Manakovski - Tiago Pitta e Cunha - Valentin Moldoveanu - Lowri Evans - Aristomenis Karageorgis - Alan Deidun - Gesine Meissner - Lea Kauppi - François Galgani - Maria Cristina Pedicchio - Geneviève Pons
• Pages: 7-23

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2 The Ocean and Waters Are Under Threat

Our society’s relationship to the ocean and w aters is inherently unsustainable,

severely ch allenging the health of our ocean, seas, coastal and inland waters.

Climate change and ocean acidification come as additional pressures. In turn, the

capacity of the ocean to regulate the Earth’s climate is jeopardized. As a result,

over 85 percent of wetland areas have been lost7, and 66 percent of the ocean

area is experiencing increasing cumulative impacts. One million species – aquatic

and terrestrial – are at risk of extinction8. At the same time, the tools at our

disposal to restore and manage the aquatic systems are significantly imperfect,

due to a lack of knowledge and lack of public connection to the ocean and waters

on the one hand, and due to poor governance on the other. The Mission proposes

a systemic vision of all of these challenges and how to address them.

Figure 2. Main challenges to healthy ocean and waters

2.1 Unsustainable human footprint

The first challenge is the degradation of ocean and freshwaters ecosystems

stemming from human activities at sea and on land, with both direct and indirect

impacts.

7 IPBES 2019, ibid.

8 Over an estimated total of 8.1 million species.

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Pollution

Pollution is degrading all parts of the water cycle from the top of the mountains

to the bottom of the ocean. 60 percent of EU surface waters are not meeting the

Water Framework Directive’s standards for sustainable management and the

protection of unique and valuable habitats as well as of drinking and bathing

water9. Moreover, the State of the Environment Report 202010 considers the

achievement of good environmental status (GES) of European marine waters by

2020 unlikely11, while the status of European freshwaters has little progressed

over the last 10-15 years. Pollution of our ocean, seas and freshwaters is caused

by four major sources.

Eutrophication is a process driven by the excessive enrichment of water by

nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. Though nutrient inputs from urban

wastewater have significantly decreased, inputs from agricultural activities

(mainly fertilisers) continue to threaten the health of our coastal and surface

waters. Eutrophication leads to increased algal pr oduction, alters the balance of

organisms and degrades overall water quality. As a result, major part s of the

Baltic Sea and the Black Sea show poor oxygen levels.

Another major pressure on freshwater and marine ecosystems is the discharge,

loss and leakage of contaminants12. Pesticides, biocides, persistent organic

pollutants, heavy metals, radioactive substances and pharmaceuticals primarily

originate from land-based sources, while atmosp heric deposition and sea -based

activities (i.e. shipping, oil and gas extraction and resuspension fr om bottom-

touching activities) also contribute to contamination. Water contamination is

highest in coastal waters, and substances accumulating in fish and seafood may

become a source of toxic pollutants for humans13.

New substances resulting from hum an activity are constantly appearing an d are

believed to cause adverse effects on ecosystems and humans. Pharmaceuticals

are an example of emerging, hence little-known contaminants14, with potentially

serious threaten human health and ecosystem s. In general, these micro

pollutants encompass a wide variety of substances that are characterised as

small, persistent and biologically active, found in aquatic environments in low

concentrations and can have detrimental effects on humans, the environment or

9 Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for t he

Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1-73.).

10 EEA, 2019. The European environment - State and outlook 2020: Knowledge for transition to a

sustainable Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the Europe an Union.

11 The EU designed the Marine Strategy Framework Directive3 (MSFD) as a holistic policy to pr otect the

marine The EU designed the Marine Strategy Framework Directive3 (MSFD) as a holistic policy to protect

the marine environment of the seas around Europe while enabling the sustainable use of marine goods

and services. The MSFD has been in force since 2008. It requires Member States to set up national marine

strategies to achieve, or maintain where it exists, ‘good environmental status’ by н0н0, see

Implementation Report COM (2020) 259 final from 26.6.2020.

12 93 percent of assessed areas in Europe are contaminated by hazardous substances. EEA, 2018.

Contaminants in Europe’s seas. EEA Report No 25/2018.

13 EEA 2018. Ibid.

14 The European Commission acknowledged the importance of this issue with the "Strategic Approach to

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment" (COM/2019/128 f inal), emphasizing the need of gathering

monitoring data as an important prerequisite to develop an appropriate risk assessment of such emerging

pollutants.