Ocean of opportunities: What is the “Blue Economy” and how does it work

80% of people on Earth live in coastal areas, and the area of ​​the World Ocean makes up about 71% of the planet’s surface. Let’s find out what the “blue economy” is, how it differs from the “green” one, and why the future is in water.

In 2009, Belgian entrepreneur and economist Günter Pauli presented a report to the Club of Rome entitled “The Blue Economy: 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs.” Pauli presented a number of bold solutions to global problems, inspired by the fact that nature itself is capable of solving any problem and has proven this throughout its evolutionary path. The report aroused enthusiasm among the members of the club, and Pauli’s ideas were later used as the basis for a book. The book “The Blue Economy” was published in 2010, gained great popularity, and was translated into more than 40 languages.

Basic principles of the “blue economy”

Günter Pauli proposed the concept of a “circular” economy or “closed-loop economy”, where production changes its movement from linear, where there are incoming and outgoing resources, to circular. If the economy worked on this principle, then all resources that are not needed in one process would be absorbed by another process. This concept is based on the fact that there is virtually no waste in nature, and any by-product can become a resource for another product.

Pauli defines the “blue economy” as the restoration of the ecosystem through existence in symbiosis with nature.

In addition to the basic concept, 19 principles of the “blue economy” are distinguished, generalized into three groups.

1. Inspiration from nature and water

The first principle in this group is: “Focus on physics”. Since physical processes in nature are combined into an independent ecosystem, the “blue economy” suggests focusing on them. Here, it is also important to think about optimization, the aforementioned rejection of linearity, as well as diversity and going beyond the “organic” approach.

2. Changing the rules of the game

This group is more concerned with production and business, as well as the social side of the economy. For example, there is a point that sounds like this: “Be healthy and happy.” It also mentions the importance of returning nature to the direction of evolution, ensuring the basic needs of all people and the value of each.

3. Living on your own territory

Here the main thing is social processes. Ethics should be put at the forefront, it is proposed to benefit from the economy of prospects, engage in vertical integration at all levels and create the maximum number of opportunities from one initiative.

Criticism of other concepts

Günter Pauli says that he was inspired to create a new concept of the economy, among other things, by disappointment in the system of the so-called “green economy.”

Pauli was involved in the implementation of the “green economy” back in the 1990s and is considered one of the pioneers of the movement. However, later it became clear that this concept is not entirely sustainable and has a number of disadvantages: environmentally friendly and biodegradable goods are often more expensive, while those that are harmful to nature and health are cheaper. Also, within the framework of the “green economy”, unscrupulous manufacturers can use greenwashing and mislead consumers.

As for the “red economy”, it gives preference to mass production, and environmental resources are considered unlimited. This system is more widespread than others in the world at the moment, and it is the “red economy” that has led to the crisis of overproduction and depletion of natural resources.

Thus, the “red economy” harms nature directly, and the “green” one, although based on respect for the environment, requires the manufacturer to invest much more resources, ultimately leading to an increase in the cost of the product.

World ocean

The key focus of the “blue economy” is on the sustainable development of industries related to the resources of the World Ocean. The ocean and seas play an exceptional role in the global economy: they provide food for 10–12% of people on Earth, absorb 30% of carbon dioxide, and the value of their resources is estimated at approximately $24 trillion.

Given this, the problems that humanity creates for the ocean are becoming extremely dangerous: water pollution due to industrial accidents and waste dumping, depletion of living ocean resources, and climate instability.

Ocean potential

The opportunity that the World Ocean provides to the economy has great potential, and renewable ocean energy.

Renewable energy is energy obtained from resources that are self-renewing and inexhaustible by human standards. For example, the Sun can be considered such a source.

The energy of water flows has been used by mankind since the times of Ancient Greece — in the 1st century BC, the Greeks used a water wheel to grind wheat. Now, with the development of the “blue economy”, the production of marine renewable energy is becoming widespread. The most popular are offshore energy sources, such as wind power plants, floating solar power plants, etc. Such sources allow us to obtain the energy of waves, tidal currents, and thermal energy of the ocean.

In addition to energy, the World Ocean enables trade — currently 90% of goods are transported by sea; it provides jobs for more than 200 million people engaged in marine fisheries.

That is why careful implementation of the potential that the World Ocean can provide is one of the main tasks of the “blue economy”.

The Blue Economy in action

Diversity and ethics are important principles of the Blue Economy. Therefore, it is not only aimed at large developed countries, but is also well suited, for example, to small developing island states.

A great example of the Blue Economy in action is the story of the Spanish island of El Hierro.

El Hierro is the smallest island of the Canary Islands; its area is just under 300 square kilometers. The island is inhabited by about 11 thousand people, and there are 500 volcanoes on it, some of which are active.

About 20 years ago, the island was half-abandoned, and the government was developing a plan to resettle its inhabitants. However, the islanders developed a different plan and, in agreement with the authorities of Madrid, turned El Hierro into an agricultural island with developed ecotourism and a caring attitude towards nature.

First of all, the island acquired independent sources of energy and fresh water, agriculture was gradually rebuilt to a fully regenerative system, and precise control of fishing was introduced, which ensured the safety of living resources of the ocean. Thus, following the principles of the “blue economy”, the island is moving towards the creation of an independent local ecosystem.

The local city hall has been developing a project that could allow El Hierro to become the only island in the world that lives entirely on renewable energy.

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