11 Benefits to a Sustainable Blue Economy
Environmental benefits to building a sustainable blue economy include:
- Biodiversity conservation and management allowing diverse, sustainable, healthy communities
- Ecosystem restoration, restoring and remediating degraded habitats to produce productive, healthy environments
- Pollution reduction to minimise the impact of contaminants on organisms
- Climate change mitigation reducing the impact of climate change on communities
- Building resilient communities which are more robust and able to adapt to changes as a result of climate change and multiple stressors
‘Brown and White Wicker Basket on Body of Water’ by Kindel Media used under a Pexels License
Social Value
There are a number of potential social benefits of a blue economy, including:
- Creation of ‘Blue’ jobs associated with sustainable energy, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, maritime activities, and new innovative technologies
- Creating food security, stable livelihoods, and economic resilience by protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable fishing and aquaculture practices
- Biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture can assist in providing food and nutrition to coastal communities
- Improved ecosystem services including carbon storage, oxygen production, nutrition, and health and well-being through recreation
- Social equity and inclusion for equity groups
- Coastal community resilience through ecosystem restoration creating coastal stability
- Community empowerment through education and ocean literacy by providing education, inclusion, and participation opportunities in conservation and restoration programs
Economic Value
Economic benefits of a sustainable blue economy include:
- Global and national economic growth through sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture, offshore energy, maritime transport, tourism, biotechnology, and innovative blue industries
- Job creation and employment through sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture, offshore energy, maritime transport, tourism, biotechnology, and innovative blue industries
- Innovative technology development leading to increased efficiency and potentially new industries, technologies, and products, creating new jobs
- Sustainable infrastructure development which is designed to be multi-use, resilient to climate change impacts including sea level rise and increased severity of severe weather events
- Multi-benefit infrastructure designed in a way that provides habitat structure which can boost biodiversity and have flow on effects to boost the economy through fisheries and aquaculture
