In 2017, the Mediterranean sea basin produced 59.6 billion euros of gross added value, 29% of the total at European level, after the Atlantic Ocean (73.4 billion euros) and the North Sea (63 billion euros). of Euro).
However, in Europe 40% of employment in the maritime economy is found in the Mediterranean (1.78 million employees), 29% in the Atlantic Ocean (1.29 million employees) and only 20% in the Atlantic Ocean. North (0.87 million employees).
This was remembered by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) on the occasion of the National Sea Day on Sunday 11 April.
There are 27 marine protected areas in Italy, in addition to 2 submerged parks, which protect a total of approximately 228,000 hectares of sea and 700,000 km of coastline.
19.12% of Italian territorial waters (from the shore up to 12 nautical miles) are covered by marine areas protected in various ways.
However, according to the IOC-Unesco only 1.67% of these areas effectively apply their management plans.
Only 0.1% are fully protected areas.
In the last 10 years (from 2009 to 2018) Italy has seen its share of employment and added value decrease.
However, our country has an important role from an environmental point of view: its sea is estimated to be responsible for the sequestration of 13.2 million tons of carbon per year, the highest value among EU member states in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the IOC-UNESCO 2021 report, combined sea-based decarbonisation actions (from developing ocean-based renewable energy to carbon storage in the seabed) could reduce the emissions gap by up to 21% on a reduction of 1.5 degrees and up to 25% on a 2 degree reduction.
"The National Day of the Sea - explains Francesca Santoro, specialist of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO - is an important opportunity to raise awareness especially among young people on the importance of respect and knowledge of the sea, a resource of great cultural and scientific value. recreational and economic, for the world and for Italy in particular. Our country has an enormous heritage that it must protect and manage effectively, to avoid the destruction of the biodiversity of the marine ecosystem. We will benefit from it not only in environmental terms, but also cheap ".
