Germany's leading role in marine preservation

At the start of the conference, the UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, paid tribute to Germany's pioneering role: “Germany is an important player in marine protection and has decisively advanced international processes such as the Convention on the Protection of the High Seas, the precautionary approach under the International Seabed Authority and the negotiation of the treaty against plastic pollution.” In her farewell speech, former Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke emphasized that marine protection is also a security issue, not only for nature, the environment and the climate, but also in a geopolitical sense.

Another flagship project in Germany is the mission-oriented research funded by the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM). Three research missions are currently addressing the topics “Oceans as carbon reservoirs”, “Protecting and sustainably using the oceans” and “Marine extreme events and natural hazards”. On the second day of the marine conference, Prof. Michael Schulz, former director of MARUM and deputy board member of the DAM, presented the four cornerstones of mission-oriented research: Ambitiousness, societal relevance, a temporal focus on decades and cross-disciplinary orientation. The DAM research missions link relevant research institutions with stakeholders from politics, business and civil society. MARUM scientists are involved in the projects AIMS3, ElbeXtreme, RETAKE, MULTI-MAREX and sea4soCiety within the research missions. Interim results were presented at the National Marine Conference in various talks.

The DAM was jointly founded in 2019 by the northern German states and the federal government. MARUM is one of the founding members, and the DAM now consists of 25 member institutions. The recently completed external evaluation recognizes the extraordinary performance of the DAM, which “has a unique position in the German research landscape as a central platform for German marine research”. The “leading role as a platform for the coordination and strategic development of German marine research” was also highlighted. The evaluation commission was also particularly positive about the strengthened cooperation between non-university research institutions and universities as a result of the DAM. The positive evaluation result is reflected in the new coalition agreement, which provides for the continuation of the DAM: an important sign and necessary step to expand Germany's leading role in marine protection.

More information:

• National Marine Conference
• DAM evaluation report