Can blue be the new green? How marine education can shape youth futures in Marseille

As COP30 concludes in Belém, one thing has been clear: young people care deeply about climate change. But are politicians listening to them, and taking into consideration their local realities?

In Debating Europe’s Voices for Choices study, many young Europeans express the need for better climate education while simultaneously criticising the lack of transparency in institutional decision-making on climate policies that directly affect them. Unfortunately, not all young people are given the tools to understand its direct consequences.

Still, progress is being made.

Ahead of COP30, a youth delegation from Marseille worked hand in hand with the French Development Agency and local politicians to develop an advocacy bringing the challenges facing southern European coastal cities to the negotiating table. The initiative involved 16- to 25-year-olds from across the city and diverse social backgrounds, while also offering them first-hand insight into how policies are drafted and negotiated at every level of decision-making.

Indeed, everyone working in the ‘EU bubble’ is familiar with the curse of subsidiarity and the division of competencies between the EU and its member states. But if blaming the lack of competencies is a national sport in Brussels, then France’s decentralisation system deserves a gold medal of its own: education responsibilities are not split between two bodies, but four – a level of fragmentation that makes coherent policymaking nearly impossible.

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots: with a policy framework this fragmented, it becomes all too easy to launch projects that drift away with the wind, losing entire generations of young people in the process – all because of weak interinstitutional collaboration and a striking lack of political will.

Empowering youth through marine education?

In France, 2025 was labelled the ‘Year of the Sea’ in honour of the United Nations Conference on Oceans (UNCO), hosted in Nice this past June. The label enabled the government and local authorities to develop initiatives focused on marine conservation and innovation. While the city of Nice invested in museums and cultural activities centred on oceans and marine heritage, and while the Montpellier Academy launched its “Academy of the Sea” project ahead of the UNCO, Marseille was left somewhere in the middle, without any particularly ambitious milestones.

Despite being France’s second-largest city and its largest port, Marseille rarely receives the warm, picturesque portrayal granted to Paris, Lyon or other celebrated cities. Instead, it is often talked about through a negative lens. For young residents, this matters: it shapes their relationship with the territory and narrows their sense of the opportunities it holds – including those linked to blue education.

However, not all is lost. Previous projects demonstrate a clear commitment from distinct local actors to push for blue education. In a city of almost 900,000 inhabitants and 57km of coastline, it should unquestionably be an educational priority.

The first thing that stands out is that not a single project operates as genuine interinstitutional collaboration; instead, each actor is busy fighting for its own slice of political legitimacy, without ever stepping back to look at what really matters: how to invest in youth futures.

Five blue education initiatives as social boosters for Marseille’s youth

Starting from the ground up, the city – governed by a left-wing alliance since 2020 – launched its “Keepers of the Sea” initiative in October 2025. The project aims to reach 800 children (around 30 school groups) over a year and is structured around three educational pillars in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) : teaching children about their local marine environment, helping them understand the impact of human activity on marine ecosystems and raising awareness of the importance of preserving marine biodiversity. However, with the current municipal mandate ending in March 2026, it remains unclear whether this initiative will be continued or formally evaluated.

Regional initiatives include the 2022 “Blue Schools Med” Erasmus+ project and the Calypso competition, running since 2012. The former involved three primary schools in the city centre and along the coast, allowing pupils to travel to partner countries to explore marine conservation practices in Greece, Italy and Malta. The Calypso competition targets secondary school students (14-18), giving them the opportunity to spend a year working on a specific environmental policy related to challenges in their city – often maritime – and present their work to the regional council. A concerning trend emerges from both projects: all participating schools are top-ranked public schools and private institutions of the city.

In fact, while the national “Educational Marine Areas” label was created in 2012, it was only implemented in four Marseille primary schools in 2020, and then only at the request of city councillors. Once again, the beneficiary schools mirrored the profile of those involved in the aforementioned regional projects. In 2023, this lack of inclusiveness apparently caught the French President’s attention so much that, during yet another visit since his first election, he announced the creation of the “Blue Economy School” label. Centred on the secondary school of l’Estaque – a neighbourhood facing significant social and economic challenges – the initiative was intended as a social support measure for young people. Its goals were to promote blue-sector jobs and integrate maritime education into the curriculum, supposedly steering young people away from drug trafficking. The outcome? Nothing has changed: no systemic solutions have been implemented since, no new funding allocated and children continue to disengage from schools. We should also note that the Département des Bouches-du-Rhône, responsible for middle schools and pupils aged 11–14 – arguably the age group most at risk of disengagement – has implemented no projects whatsoever.

Knowing where we come from: blue education as a key policy to overcome territorial challenges

What is clear, even from the President’s declaration, is that blue education extends far beyond simply teaching environmental facts in primary schools. It also encompasses the blue economy as a sector worth investing in for the future of Marseille’s youth.

Yet, one point must not be forgotten: this policy package should help shape a conscious, grounded generation in the south of France. A generation that understands the potential their territory has to offer and that feels their voice matters.

Blue education, therefore, cannot be limited to maritime preservation; it must sit at the very heart of youth futures.

• Invest in youth futures: if climate is about young people, then give us the means to understand our lands and our role within them. If education is the issue, invest in it meaningfully and give young people the tools to grow beyond the classroom. If we are the citizens of tomorrow, then prove it. As the saying from Oui Legacy, founded by Lilia Touil, reminds us: “On ne peut pas savoir où l’on va si on ne sait pas d’où l’on vient” (“To know where you’re going, you must first know where you come from”).
• Interinstitutional collaboration: competences matter for meaningful public policy, yes. But we are tired of fragmented implementation at the local level. Labels are meaningless if local actors do not work together to ensure educational continuity – otherwise we risk losing entire generations to this broken system.
• Use EU funds to bridge the gap: the relationship between the EU and regional authorities is crucial. Where national governments lack the capacity or political will to act, EU funds can and should help bridge the interinstitutional divide. Blue education is a clear example of how EU instruments can support long-term, inclusive policies in fragmented territories and create cross-cultural opportunities for young people.

Because if COP has taught us anything, it’s that while leaders negotiate the future, it is today’s young people who will have to live it, and the real work begins with how local policies are implemented.

The views expressed in this #CriticalThinking article reflect those of the author(s) and not of Friends of Europe.