At European Ocean Days 2025, the five Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs) supporting the first phase of the ‘Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters’ co-organised an interactive workshop on Monday, 3rd of March. The aim of the workshop was to to take the first steps towards harmonizing KPIs and approaches to support the development of a joint monitoring framework for the Mission.
The European Commission was represented by Jacques Delsalle; PREP4BLUE, was represented by Caecilia Managò (ERINN); BlueMissionAA, the Atlantic and Arctic Lighthouse CSA was represented by Harald Hasler-Sheetal (ICES); BlueMissionBANOS, the Baltic and North Sea Lighthouse CSA was represented by Lotta Purkamo (GTK); BlueMissionMED, the Mediterranean Lighthouse CSA was represented by Nikos Streftaris (HCMR) and EcoDaLLi, the Danube River Bassin Lighthouse CSA was represented by Lisa Waldenberger (BOKU).
Across two separate panel discussions, representatives from other Mission-funded Projects discussed, the challenges in KPI Identification, implementation and scalability and, ensuring KPI adoption and integration into Mission projects. Panellists included Alexander Ziemba (Ultfarms), Sophie Jensen (BIOPROTECT), Marton Pesel (DALIA), Lorenzo Proia (SEACURE), Uroš Novak (REMEDIES).
When asked what dimensions might be overlooked in the monitoring frameworks, it was pointed out that “considering the local dimension and building on local communities’ knowledge is crucial” – the importance of communities was a key learning from the workshop.
In order to capture diverse stakeholder perspectives from the outset, presentations were combined with interactive sessions and supported by interactive Slido polls, where participants could share their views and insights.
The presented approaches and exchange in the panel discussion, were aimed at providing the wheels to drive the second, implementation phase of the EU Mission, so these can be taken up and would not need to be reinvented.
The presentations from the workshop can be access using the link below.
