“The world is waiting for a vaccine! There is no vaccine coming for climate change!” With this urgent appeal, the World Bank handed over a Law Enforcement Vessel to the Jamaican National Fisheries Authority (NAF) to take better and more decisive action against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) on its territories including the Exclusive … Read more
The World Economic Forum and its Digital Platform for Crowdsourcing are asking for a second Ocean Solutions Sprint. Dateline is October 31, 2020. Take Action. UpLink is an effort to accelerate the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is an open platform designed to engage anyone who wants to offer a contribution … Read more
As for many other problems that we have to deal with, it is also true for the handling of the Sargassum Seaweed that we have to collect enough data to develop a promising strategy that acknowledges different aspects. We know from studies of Chuanmin Hu at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and his … Read more
The idea of Blue finance There was great expectations, excitement and hope in 2018 that “Blue bonds” could save the World’s Oceans in funding a range of climate adaptations. This optimism was based on the Republic of Seychelles. They launched in October 2018 the first sovereign blue bond. The idea is exciting: blue financing, especially … Read more
The world is facing a huge waste problem. Researchers have simulated how much plastic will be produced in the coming decades and how it will be discarded. The forecast is grim. Plastic waste is omnipresent: it can be found in oceans, rivers, and lakes worldwide. Tiny particles can also be found in people and animals. … Read more
Since 2012/13, we have been battling seaweed named Sargassum in the Caribbean. While Sargassum is a normal part of ocean life, and an important habitat, the warmer waters produced by climate change allow it to proliferate at an explosive rate. Appearing in such vast quantities, Sargassum quickly turns dangerous. Aggregations of Sargassum can block the … Read more
Based on an article on the BBC web site around 20 percent of the ocean floor is mapped. The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project was launched in 2017. Three years ago only 6% of the global ocean bottom had been surveyed. Today the figure is at 19%, up from 15% in just the last year. … Read more
The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative published on the occasion of World Oceans Day, June 8, 2020. The report “A sustainable ocean in 2030: Opportunities and Challenges.” assesses the challenges facing key sectors, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. See here the nine chapters and their main topic. 1. The blue economy and covid-19 The … Read more
A sustainable ocean economy in 2030? The report “A sustainable ocean in 2030: Opportunities and challenges.” of the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. Is the Blue Economy losing its conceptual independence? It is interesting to see how the concept of the Blue Economy, apparently … Read more
On June 11, 2020 the European Commission published “The EU Blue Economy Report 2020”, providing an overview of the performance of the EU economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment. The EU Blue Economy Report defines the area of Blue Economy of all activities that are marine- based or marine-related. Therefore, the EU Blue Economy … Read more