Marine biodiversity conservation in Europe overseas Many of the
30+ overseas territories of the European Union are islands and
much of their biodiversity occurs in the seas and the oceans
surrounding them. A recent workshop under the European
Parliament Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity and
Sustainable Development” organized jointly with IUCN addressed
the challenges of Europe overseas in protecting their marine
biodiversity. Armando Astudillo Gonzalez, Adviser at the
European Commission in the Directorate-General for Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries, pointed out that, since most overseas
entities are islands, they have a strong maritime vocation and,
as a consequence, the protection of marine biodiversity becomes
vital for them. As fisheries are considered among the principal
threats for marine biodiversity, it is appropriate to discuss
how fisheries policies take into account biodiversity
protection. The ongoing reform of the Common Fisheries Policy
has as principal goal to give priority to environm