Horizon Europe: launch of the Starfish Mission 2030

Following the visit of Pascal Lamy (President of the Mission Board Oceans) in February in Brest, the Campus mondial de la mer community was in May making a contribution to the Mission Board Oceans to provide its vision on the construction of the next research and development framework programme, Horizon Europe.

Our contribution was structured around the themes pre-identified by the Mission Board Oceans, namely :

• Knowledge of oceans and coastlines,
• Reduction of inputs,
• Resources and overexploitation,
• Decarbonation, and
• Science and society.

Very recently, and on the basis of the various contributions received, the Mission Board Oceans proposed a Starfish 2030 Mission "Restoring our oceans by 2030".

The Starfish Mission 2030 has five main objectives:

1. bridging the knowledge gap,
2. regenerate marine and freshwater ecosystems,
3. zero pollution,
4. decarbonise our ocean and inland waters,
5. overhaul of governance.

The Starfish 2030 Mission aims to restore the water cycle as a whole. For each of the five objectives, a set of ambitious, concrete and measurable targets has been defined. They specifically concern the actors, activities, tools and systems that must all be called upon to achieve each objective.

These targets are seen as the indispensable elements of a holistic approach to systemic change.