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 losing its independence after COVID-19. In the report, it is once again increasingly seen and addressed as a part of the Green Economy. The authors are discussing the possible impact of the EU Green Deal, a roadmap for making EU’s economy sustainable, the importance of initiatives in the US to promote a “green stimulus” after COVID-19. They talking about a “sustainable green-blue transition” or “green-blue recovery.”
“The extent to which the ocean economy will benefit from such fiscal stimulus remains unclear…But there is optimism that a green-blue recovery is possible.”
One possible explanation for that new wording is the economic crisis caused by the Corona Virus. The Green Economy is a securely established field and has recently gained in economic importance, e.g., the EU Green Deal.
On the other hand, as another explanation, we must not forget that of the 17 SDG targets, SDG no. 14 Life Below Water has received the least of total donor commitments (together with SDG 15 Life on land).
The figures are a modest 3.5 percent.
SDG 14 “LIFE BELOW WATER”
received the least total donor commitments among the 17 SDGs
UNCTAD Report "The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Blue Economy
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published recently a report “The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Blue Economy: New challenges and prospects for recovery and resilience.”
For UNCTAD it is clear, that
“uncertainty dominates the outlook for the blue economy to the extent that the duration and severity of the pandemic is yet to be clear. All blue economic sectors are being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, including in developing countries which are being heavily impacted by the downturn trends in global demand and economic activity, falling commodity prices, eroding export earnings, capital outflows, and declining tourist revenues and remittances.”
