Sustainability

The sustainable management of our natural resources – including our coasts, seas and oceans – is a challenge for society and a key issue for the future of humankind. The question what sustainable development ought to look like and how it can be achieved must be addressed by science, politics, the economy and society as a whole.

The DAM serves as an overarching bracket which encompasses all the different focal areas of German marine research – from river and coastal systems to the open seas and deep oceans, from the tropics to the polar regions. Marine ecosystems are all interconnected in countless ways and in a state of constant exchange. The DAM looks at marine issues in the context of taking suitable preventive action, focussing on the protection and sustainable use of the oceans.

The global challenges related to climate change and biodiversity loss provide the thematic framework, as do the United Nations (UN) ocean-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are also the focus of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, from 2021 to 2030. Another important context is implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on a national and European level.

In adopting the 2030 Agenda in 2015 under the umbrella of the United Nations, the global community made a commitment to pursue 17 global goals for sustainable development and a better future (Sustainable Development Goals: SDG). 

The guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda is to enable people all over the world to live in dignity in conditions that are fit for human beings, while at the same time conserving natural resources in the long term. For this reason, the mutually interrelated sustainability goals address economic, ecological, social and cultural aspects. The 2030 Agenda emphasises the shared responsibility of all protagonists: in politics, business, science, civil society – and of every single person. These global goals are to be implemented on a regional level, which is why the EU and the German government are also among those working on implementing them.

The United Nations has proclaimed the years 2021 to 2030 to be the international Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Policymakers, society and scientists are to work together to successfully implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals – for “life below water” and for the people who live by and with the oceans. The goal is to reverse the trend, putting a halt to a further deterioration in the health of the coasts, seas and oceans, and allowing them to recover.

The German Sustainability Strategy addresses all 17 Sustainable Development Goals and thus also includes targets for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.

The targets for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, for example, are to reduce nutrient pollution and to manage fish stocks sustainably. The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive has created a uniform regulatory framework for the environmental status of the marine waters of the member states of the European Union, which is being jointly implemented in Germany by the federal and the individual state governments. Beyond this, Germany is also committed to the sustainable management of the oceans on an international level.

The European Union’s approach to sustainable development addresses the way in which EU is going to implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in association with its member states.

This comprehensive approach brings together economic, social and environmental aspects, which reinforce each other. Climate change and environmental degradation are addressed as existential threats to Europe and the world. This is also the context of the European Green Deal, a roadmap for the EU to address climate and environmental challenges and to make possible the transition to a modern, resource-efficient, competitive economy, one that is equitable and inclusive.