Understanding blue economy and its growing importance
MANY countries, including Malaysia, are identifying how they can benefit from what is called a “blue economy¨.
The idea behind building a blue economy is that countries should use oceans and seas to their full advantage without leading to the suffering of aquatic life, pollution or other negative effects.
This not only includes the world’s oceans, but also seas, lakes, rivers and smaller bodies of water.
Blue economy is a sustainable ocean economy that emerges when economic activity is in balance with the long-term capacity of ocean ecosystems to support the activity and remain resilient and healthy.
Its concept has essentially evolved from the broader green movements and in a growing awareness of the threats imposed on ocean ecosystems by human activities, such as overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and the impact of climate change.
Blue economy is increasingly gaining importance as governments adopt and implement a more sustainable balance between economic growth and maintaining ocean health.
This means minimizing carbon emissions by switching to more sustainable energy sources and making sure that, shipping routes are planned in the most effective and least polluting way possible.
The blue economy has diverse components, including established traditional ocean industries such as fisheries, tourism, and maritime transport, but also new and emerging activities, such as offshore renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities, and marine biotechnology and bioprospecting.
A number of services provided by ocean ecosystems, and for which markets do not exist, also contribute significantly to economic and other human activity such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, waste disposal and the existence of biodiversity.
Blue economy is making sure that economic growth is sustained without exhausting natural resources. For example, because of illegal and overfishing, fish stocks have decreased significantly over the past decades, leading to major changes in marine ecosystems, and scientists have warned that these stocks need to increase to ensure healthy oceans.
Malaysia is located in the IndoPacific region with its coastlines bordering the Andaman Sea, Straits of Malacca and Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea.
The coasts and seas are part of the nation’s social, economic, security, cultural and natural parameters, which are interlinked and influenced by internal as well as external factors.
These sectors are dynamic and continuously changing, providing goods and services and in turn being affected by their utility.
The seas surrounding Malaysia contain productive and diverse habitats with the major ecosystem being mangroves, coral reefs and sea grasses, among others.
These are productive natural ecosystems that contribute significantly to human, food, economic and environmental security.
We benefit from the coastal and marine areas in various ways. The local communities are dependent upon healthy ecosystems and habitats which supply many species of plants, animals and microorganisms that provide food, medicines and other products for use on a daily basis.
This, in part, explains why our government is serious about protecting our sea and we are party to several multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.
We are committed to better manage the many aspects of coastal and oceanic sustainability, ranging from sustainable fisheries to ecosystem health to pollution.
Various studies focusing on the valuation of ecosystem services have been conducted to justify the interest in biodiversity protection on economic grounds.
With global warming, plastic pollution and overfishing as some of the main issues that need to be tackled, creating a blue economy is a challenge.
The key to a blue economy is finding the middle road between sustainability and economic growth, often achieved with the help of innovative and new technologies.
Over the years, increasingly more attention has been paid to oceanic pollution, especially when it comes to remnants of plastic that have made their way into those ecosystems, with the most striking example being the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
It is estimated that 1.15 million to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each year from rivers. More than half of this plastic is less dense than the water, meaning that it will not sink once it encounters the sea.
Environmental agencies have warned that coral bleaching has become a major issue for marine life. Not only are corals themselves living beings, they also host a large number of other animals that have suffered from the abysmal state of some of the world’s most important reefs like the Great Barrier Reef near Australia.
In Sabah, the WWF-Malaysia team in Semporna together with Sabah Parks, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Reef Check Malaysia, Scuba Junkie SEAS, Seaventures Dive Rig, Green Semporna, and Semporna Community College organised ‘Semporna Marine Eco Week 2017’ (SMEW) bringing awareness and attention to climate change, coral bleaching, and the importance of marine conservation amongst dive operators, local communities, and NGOs.
The blue economy concept also focuses on development of the existing ocean sectors to further generate employment, promote entrepreneurship in new areas of economic activities, facilitate the inter-connectedness of the regional economy, and contribute to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.
Major priority areas identified include fisheries and aquaculture, ocean energy, ports and shipping, oil and minerals exploitation, and sustainable tourism activities through various platforms at the national and regional levels.
The ocean sector, which is crucial to Malaysia’s economy through its resources and ecosystem services that support trade and industries, requires proper management and conservation strategies to achieve maximum economic, environmental and social outcomes.
This will involve participation from the relevant stakeholders and assessment of the physical and human resources required; investment in research, science and technology; collaboration; and review and formulation of policies.
Some of the initiatives that could be undertaken include developing a blue economy profile and conducting pilot studies of the ocean to help define and refine Malaysia’s conception of a blue economy; and promoting the use of ocean economy data in marine planning at the national level to facilitate further engagement by Malaysia with other countries in the region on related areas.
It is envisaged that blue economy initiatives would further drive sustainable development at the national level. The overall management of Malaysia’s seas should hence focus on balancing the need to continue or perpetuate the provision of goods and services from the sea while allowing for sustainable development.