The UK House of Lords EU Committee today called for strong leadership on the management of resources among the countries along the shoreline of the North Sea, including offshore wind.
In a report published today, titled “The North Sea under pressure: is regional marine co-operation the answer?”, the Committee finds that the North Sea is one of the most industrialised seas in the world, with a wide range of pressures being placed on it.
Attempts at managing those pressures through planning are embryonic and unpredictable around the North Sea. The Committee has found that no existing body or mechanism has a broad enough remit to facilitate the political co-operation required to make the necessary step-change in the management of the North Sea basin.
Therefore, the Committee has issued recommendations in which it urges the UK Government to act on the North Sea sustainability.
Commenting, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, Chairman of the Sub-Committee that conducted this inquiry, said: “The North Sea is one of the most industrialised seas in the world. We already have ships queuing to pass through sections of the sea basin and it is predicted that the space allocated to wind farms could increase fifty-fold in the next few years. That level of use places brings significant pressure on eco-systems in the North Sea.”
She added that, if the North Sea is left uncoordinated, a potential conflict between environmental sustainability and the ‘blue growth’ agenda will intensify.
“We want the UK Government to take the lead in convening a Ministerial Conference of North Sea states to deliver the urgently needed strategic and political vision for the North Sea. We also think the Government should think harder about developing our own long term plan for the North Sea along the lines of the Dutch 2050 agenda.”
In the following video, Baroness Scott of Needham Market talks about the North Sea and EU marine policy:
Image: video snapshot