Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

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Our reliance on oceans and coasts Throughout the course of history, humans have been drawn to coastal areas to enjoy the bounty of the sea. As much as 40 per cent of the world’s population now lives within 100 kilometres of the shoreline (Martínez, et al., 2007) and this population continues to grow – increasing our reliance and impact on the ocean and coast. Two- thirds of the world’s megacities are on the coast. Much of the world’s economy and the cultures of many peoples are founded on oceans and coasts. Modern civilization arose along the coasts and rivers because of access to trade and resources. Today 90 per cent of global economic trade travels by sea. The sea provides many of the raw materials needed to supply the world’s economy, such as minerals, sand and gravel. New sources of minerals and metals are being explored in the deep sea and the areas beyond national jurisdiction. In 2011 alone, the International Seabed Authority issued four new exploration contracts for potential deep-sea mineral extraction. Plans are also underway to tap the wave, thermal, current and other energy potentials of the oceans. The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that ocean energy could one day be key to meeting the world’s energy demands, but currently thedevelopment of ocean energy is still in its early stages. Only recently, however, have we started to fully appreciate the economic importance of

The early part of the 21 st century has seendramatic changes in the world’s environmental and economic well-being. More fish stocks than ever before are considered overexploited, depleted or recovering (FAO, 2010), and chronic oil spills and land-based pollution continue to plague coastal seas 1 . At the same time, the world’s economy has experienced the deepest recession since the Great Depression; many nations struggle to repay their debts, and income inequality has increased steadily over the past 20 years (Wade, 2001). As the population continues to grow in these uncertain economic times, the role of environmental capital is likely to become increasingly important to maintain and improve social well-being around the globe. This is particularly true of poor communities that depend directly and disproportionately on ecosystems and natural resources. Despite our current understanding of the importance of environmental capital, the current economic paradigm promotes growth in economic output and consumption with only limited planning for inevitable increases in the scarcity of environmental capital. In 1992 the need for a more sustainable economy emerged as one of the key outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro. Twenty years later the search for a greener economy continues as the UN convenes a second global Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20).

in a Blue World

To help the world address the challenges of an economic transition, the United Nations Environment Programme launched the Green Economy series. This effort seeks to pave a new way which will align economic development with the protection or even improvement of the globe’s current environmental capital. The world’s oceans and coasts – the Blue World – are key components of the planet’s environmental capital, and indeed, it’s economic capital. The path towards a Green Economy must address the unique challenges that face a global economy which relies critically on coastal and ocean ecosystems.

Estimated ecosystem services value

Wetlands

Rock and ice

Tropical forest

uncertain data

Temperate and Boreal forest

Grasslands

Lakes - Ri

Croplands

1. For example, see UNEP. 2007. Land-based Pollution in the South China Sea. UNEP/GEF/ SCS Technical Publication No. 10. And http:// www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/ download/ew_oildischarge.en.pdf.

- Source: R. Costanza, The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital , Nature, 1998. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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