In the frame of their Memorandum of Understanding, NEREUS and Mercator Ocean, together with the Azores Regional Government, are organizing an international conference on “Copernicus Marine for Outermost and Maritime Regions” on 6-7 June 2019 on the island of Fayal (Azores, Portugal).
In order to define the agenda of the event, and foster ownership and participation of the Outermost regional authorities, you are able to rank potential topics of interest: the questionnaire is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
The event aims at
- Allowing for Outermost Regions Public Authorities to share issues they are facing regarding their maritime activities (water quality monitoring, aquaculture and fisheries management, renewable energy farm implementation, EU Directive and UN Sustainable Development Goal monitoring, etc…) and their expectations about the potential of Copernicus in this regard.
- Assessing Outermost Regions Public Authorities’ experience/needs/priorities in terms of marine data and information with regards to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service.
- Presenting Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service experts and users to respond to those issues with existing examples and known solutions.
- Putting in practice some of the existing examples and known solutions within 3 marine hands-on technical training sessions.
Background context
In 2017, the European Commission presented a new strategy for the nine European Outermost Regions (OR) to help them fulfill their potential. The Azores (PT), the Canary Islands (ES), Guadeloupe (FR), Guyana (FR), Madeira (PT), Martinique (FR), Mayotte (FR), La Réunion (FR) and Saint Martin (FR) are located thousands of kilometers from continental Europe and have a number of specific features that limit their growth. These common features, such as remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, have been acknowledged and are the basis for the special status of ORs. The European Commission is now working with the Member States to establish customized support to help these regions build on their unique assets and create opportunities for their inhabitants.
The European Commission’s Strategy for Outermost Regions, the Copernicus Programme of the European Union and more specifically the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, implemented by Mercator Ocean International, provide support to the Outermost Regions and their respective Public Authorities in a broad range of policy domains which are crucial to the local economy (fisheries, climate change and renewable energy). Moreover, two OR (Azores and French Guyana) are members of NEREUS and benefit from political dialogue and interregional collaboration in order to raise the awareness and understanding of how space technologies can support the achievement of their strategic objectives.
