1 th PD-6: Germany, as of 8 June 2017 Dear Ministers, Excellences, delegates and friends of our oceans, Due to the need to support and implement the 2030 Agenda and especially SDG 14, Germany is happy to announce that within our actual national year of science: seas and oceans we have launched a federal research & development funding programme called MARE:N, while the “N” stands for sustainability. This programme has been developed through stakeholder participation. The German government will provide more than 4 billion Euros (equivalent to 4.5 billion USD) within the coming decade to target marine scientific projects and research, and thus, help to understand the impact of global warming, sea-level rise, ocean acidification and pollution, especially on marine litter, on our seas and oceans and supporting knowledge based decision making on national and intergovernmental level. Germany fosters new partnerships – and will deepen existing ones, for example: - Our research institutes work with partners all over the world – implementing research projects and capacity building. - We are renewing our fleet of research vessels – two new vessels will be commissioned until 2020 and the newest ship – research vessel SONNE serves very successfully as an international platform for research cooperation globally. Titel                                                          Seite 1 von 2

2 - The aforementioned national year of science: seas and oceans involves stakeholders, as well as the interested public in citizen science projects to raise awareness on the importance of our seas and oceans for life. In our national year of science: seas and oceans, we communicate scientific findings and its important role for everyday life to the broader public very successfully. We will further support ocean-basin centered collaborations in Research, Development and Innovation as well as capacity building. Germany initiated, together with local partners, research centers in southern and western Africa to strengthen the regional capacity for scientific knowledge products and services in long term cooperation. Though land based, in our view, this is an important contribution to the implementation of SDG 14, since the sustainable development goals are indivisible and interlinked. I want to thank the organizers of this dialogue and the Oceans Conference for the fruitful exchange of views and the interesting discussions which we will take home. Titel                                                           Seite 2 von 2