General

Brest to become the European centre of Sustainable Blue Economy and Maritime Spatial Planning this May

11 May

This year the biggest European wide event to bring together maritime community – European Maritime Days 2023 – will take place on 24-25 May in Brest, France. More than 1000 participants from all over the world representing public authorities, European and international organisations, NGOs and academia will come together to discuss blue economy and marine environment. The EMD 2023 is being organised by the European Commission, the City of Brest, the Region of Brittany, the department of Finistère and the General Secretariat for the Sea. Registration is open until 19 May, learn more here.

The whole week will be filled with various events. One of the eMSP project learning strands on Data Sharing, Information and Communication Strategy Technology serving MSP will hold the 4th Community of Practice workshop the day before on 22 May. There is still a chance to join the workshop online!

Another event to highlight is the launching of the European Blue Forum on the 26 May. The European Blue Forum will build a pan-European sustainable blue economy stakeholder platform to discuss shared challenges and priorities over the medium term with the aim of finding consensus, synergies and solutions towards a common vision. It aims to fully represent European Sustainable Economy, including the underrepresented actors, new and emerging sectors together with the more established ones.

Key principles of the European Blue Forum structure (source: European Commission)

Objectives of the European Blue Forum are to facilitate collaboration, share knowledge, contribute to policy coherence, facilitate interaction between sea users and empower local communities. After the European Blue Forum launch, deep-dive workshops will be organised on the two questions: What do we need from European Seas by 2030? and What does a fossil fuel free Sustainable Blue Economy look like?

To learn more and be involved in the European Blue Forum, follow this site.

eMSP project will travel to Brest for all the mentioned events. During the EMD come by the eMSP NBSR project stand in the exhibition area to say hi! Find us at the stand No 37 and you will have a chance to meet many eMSP project partners, learn more about maritime spatial planning in North and Baltic Seas as well as get up to speed with all the activities still planned in the eMSP NBSR project. Stay tuned for more news on project results and final eMSP conference!

Project members will also participate in conference sessions and workshops. Project coordinator Nico Buytendijk from RVO will participate in the session EMD Cities Network part 1: CINEA session – EU projects accelerating the energy transition to showcase the experience of eMSP project among the various EU funded projects that are contributing to the delivery of European Green Deal objectives. Furthermore, Liene Gaujeniete from VASAB Secretariat will participate in workshop No. 19. How to plan & deploy nature friendly offshore wind? to talk about the role of cross-border cooperation, including within international projects, in coherent, ecosystem-based MSP.

Looking forward to meeting you in Brest!

Prepared by Liene Gaujeniete, VASAB Secretariat, May 2023.