Two related events were in the focus of PAP/RAC last week - the European Maritime Day 2017 (EMD) and the Multi-Use for Sustainable Blue Growth (MUSES Project) Stakeholders Workshop, which took place in Poole, UK, from 16-18 May 2017. Both meetings were related to blue growth and the future of European Regional Seas, and were of relevance for the MAVA "A blue economy for a healthy Mediterranean" project, in which PAP/RAC is a partner, and its objective to follow up on advocacy of the blue economy in international initiatives.
A PAP/RAC representative participated at the EMD2017, which is the main annual event organised by DG Mare of the EU, and which brought together more than 600 participants. The main title of the event was the "Future of our Seas" with the blue economy having a crucial role. Several parallel stakeholder workshops took place and the main themes were Innovation and Growth; People and Skills; Sustainability and Governance; and Safety and Security.
Back-to-back with the EMD, a Workshop has been organised in the framework of the MUSES project (Horizon 2020) that involves 10 partners from across Europe. The project aims at understanding multi-use benefits for environmental, socio-economic and spatial point of view and in that way promotes blue growth at the European seas level. PAP/RAC was invited as a stakeholder from the Mediterranean region. This was a good opportunity to promote and advocate for the blue economy concept from the MAVA project and reflect on the approaches taken at other Regional Seas level.
