What is the European Blue Forum?
The European Blue Forum is intended to be a pan-European Stakeholder group, able to come together to discuss shared challenges and priorities over the medium term with the aim of finding consensus, synergies and solutions towards a common vision.
However more than this, it should be a ‘safe’ moderated space for all users of the sea, to identify innovative solutions to deliver bold and ambitious change, bringing real benefits to people and communities throughout Europe.
As such, the European Blue Forum is structured around the following key principles: flexible and expandable, with no hierarchy, inclusive and representative, and with proactive debate and dialogue.
The European Blue Forum is intended to be fully representative of the European Sustainable Blue Economy. It will give opportunities to often underrepresented stakeholder groups, as well as new and emerging sectors, to express the challenges they face and explore possible solutions and synergies alongside more established sectors.
What are the objectives of the European blue Forum?
Creating a Blue Forum for all users of the sea will bring many benefits:
- Collaboration: The European Blue Forum will facilitate collaboration among various stakeholders, including governments, private sector, civil society, and local communities. It will bring together diverse perspectives and expertise to address common challenges and find solutions for sustainable ocean use and management.
- Knowledge sharing: The Blue Forum will serve as a platform for sharing information, best practices, and lessons learned among different ocean users. It will promote capacity building and the transfer of knowledge and technology to support sustainable development.
- Policy coherence: The Blue Forum can contribute to policy coherence and coordination among different sectors and levels of governance. It can help further align European, national, regional and local policies and strategies with international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
- Facilitate the interactions between sea users: The Blue Forum aims at fostering a better coexistence of all ocean users. It will provide a space for dialogue to manage competing uses of the sea and its resources.
- Empowerment: The Blue Forum can empower local communities, particularly those who rely on the oceans for their livelihoods, to participate in cross-sectoral dialogue on what affect their lives and well-being.
The European Blue Forum will promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, policy coherence, conflict prevention and resolution, and empowerment, among other benefits. It can help advance sustainable ocean use and management for the benefit of all ocean users and future generations.
Why to get involved?
As a part of the European Blue Forum, we are creating a community. A community of different users of the sea, passionate and committed to working together to deliver bold and ambitious change to our shared challenges of nature and climate change.
As part of the Forum, stakeholders will have the opportunity to influence the structure and direction of the European Blue Forum in a balanced and inclusive way, and through this, the future of Europe’s Sustainable Blue Economy.
Members of the European Blue Forum will be invited to participate in dedicated meetings and workshops, as well as be given the opportunity to create dedicated Action Groups. These groups, with the support of the European Blue Forum Secretariat, will collaboratively work towards finding solutions to the biggest challenges facing our Sustainable Blue Economy Community and deliver collective impact.
Learn more about the European Blue Forum here