Blue Economy

Oceans, seas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the Earth’s ecosystem and are critical to sustainable development. They cover more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and contain 97% of the planet’s water. Oceans contribute to poverty eradication by creating sustainable livelihoods and decent work. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods. In addition, oceans are crucial for global food security and human health. They are also the primary regulator of the global climate, an important sink for greenhouse gases and they provide us with water and the oxygen we breathe. Finally, oceans host huge reservoirs of biodiversity.

The importance of oceans for sustainable development is widely recognized by the international community and embodied in Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and various decisions taken by the Commission on Sustainable Development. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment emphasizes that all humans depend on the Earth’s ecosystems and the services they provide. In the Rio+20 outcome document,The future we want, Member States called for “holistic and integrated approaches to sustainable development that will guide humanity to live in harmony with nature and lead to efforts to restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem”.

Oceans, seas and marine resources are increasingly threatened, degraded or destroyed by human activities, reducing their ability to provide crucial ecosystem services. Important classes of threats are, among others, climate change, marine pollution, unsustainable extraction of marine resources and physical alterations and destruction of marine and coastal habitats and landscapes. The deterioration of coastal and marine ecosystems and habitats is negatively affecting human well-being worldwide.

Good governance, an enabling environment, sustainable land- and marine- based human activities, and adequate measures will be required to reduce the negative anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment, for example due to a more sustainable use of resources, changes in production and consumption patterns and improved management and control of human activities. Projects and measures should ideally be designed and implemented in an integrated, cross-sectoral and cross-scale manner, in line with the ecosystem approach and involving all stakeholders. Extract from the UN website, “14th SDGs Oceans and Seas”.

Himilcon.co assists Governments in developing and implementing a National Blue Economy Strategic Framework and Roadmap to establish broad directions for future investment and development of a sustainable ocean-based economy. A review, validation and implementation of the Roadmap are aimed at supporting governments in its transition to a more integrated ocean-based economy.

The Government’s ultimate goals in developing the national Blue Economy Roadmap include:

• Economic diversification & resilience to reduce economic vulnerability and reliance on a small number of sectors and to increase the % GDP derived from marine sectors.
• Shared prosperity through creation of high value jobs and local investment opportunities;
• Food security and well-being;
• Integrity of habitats and ecosystem services, sustainable use, and climate resilience.

The successful and sustainable implementation of the Blue Economy Strategic Framework and Roadmap will ultimately deliver the following outcomes:

• Effective protection of country’ ocean space and resources through better coordination across different sectors, application of protective measures and greater use of surveillance and enforcement tools;
• Increased investment in diversification of existing ocean-based economic sectors (particularly fisheries, tourism and ports) to realize greater value and efficiency from the existing resource base;
• Reduced vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks and dependency on energy and food imports;
• New research, innovation and generation of knowledge about country’ ocean space, resources and management needs;
• Exploration and feasibility of new and emerging maritime sectors (for example marine-based aquaculture, renewable energy, offshore petroleum and marine biotechnology);
• Improved prevention of ocean/blue economy risks including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, marine pollution and climate change through integrated approaches to effective regional cooperation on maritime security;
• Capacity for effective ocean management and for taking advantage of the opportunities the Blue Economy offers today and in the future;