Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

World oceans, a cornucopia of goods and services

in a Blue World

O 2

O 2

O 2

O 2

O 2

O 2

O 2

N

CO 2

our living seas and coasts. Marine habitats, species, and ecosystems support natural capital and economic flows, together referred to as ecosystem services. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide many services such as food, wood, fibre and other resources. Mangroves, salt marshes and sea grasses are natural carbon sinks (Murray, et al., 2011). Coastal habitats, including coral reefs, also protect homes, communities and businesses from storms and surges. Marine ecosystem services have substantial economic value. While exact figures are still debated, attempts to estimate the value of coastal ecosystem services have found such

values to be on the order of trillions of US dollars annually (Costanza, et al., 1997). Nearly three-quarters of this value resides in coastal zones (Martínez, et al., 2007). These ecosystem services offer a renewable opportunity to meet basic human needs, support a healthy and sustainable economy, and provide jobs for a growing global population. Seafood continues to be a major economic use of the living sea. Seafood consumption has hit an all-time high with the average person consuming more than 17 kilograms each year with more than 80 million tonnes harvested in ocean waters in 2009 with a value in excess of US$100 billion

annually. Twenty million tonnes of seafood were harvested from the rapidly increasing marine aquaculture sector alone. The seafood industry’s harvest and post-harvest sectors support the livelihoods of a total of about 540 million people, or eight per cent of the world population (FAO, 2010). In developing countries, almost half of all fishing related jobs are in small-scale fisheries. Today, we understand the ways in which many commercial activities depend directly on healthy ocean economies. Marine tourism, including traditional beach tourism, recreational fishing, scuba diving and nature tourism, continues to grow around the world. Many coastal communities depend on these types of tourism, which depend critically on clean beaches, safe water and abundant marine wildlife. Furthermore, tourism

Bilion of US dollars per year

10 000

9 000

8 000

Open ocean

7 000

6 000

5 000

Sea grass - Algae bed

4 000

Shelf

Other coastal biomes

3 000

2 000

ivers

1 000

Estuaries

Coral reef

0

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

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