Importance of the Blue Economy
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Over the coming days, the Global Oceans Action Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth will help shed light on the many aspects of this concept, what the implications are, as well as the risks and the opportunities.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is conscious of the importance of the Blue Economy concept in meeting the sustainable development goals that will be set in the post-2015 development agenda. In particular, it is a continuation of the work that FAO has conducted for many years, assisting the development of sustainable marine fisheries and aquaculture in countries around the world. This is a testimony to FAO’s recognition that marine resources have been essential for world food security, and will continue to be even more so in the future.
There are many good reasons why we need to push the blue agenda forward. The health of our planet itself, our health and food security, depends on how we treat the blue world.
More than 40 percent of the global population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast. Thirteen of the world’s 20 mega-cities lie along coasts. Nearly 700 million people live in low lying coastal areas less than 10 meters above sea level. The livelihoods of 12 percent of the world’s population depend on the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
But we cannot keep using marine and aquatic resources as if they were endless. Today, nearly one third of global fish stocks are over exploited. And we cannot keep using our oceans as a waste pool. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a sad reminder of where our action (or perhaps inaction) has led us.
By acting this way we risk losing precious biodiversity. Over 80 percent of the 232 marine eco-regions reported the presence of invasive species, which is the second most significant cause of biodiversity loss on a global scale. The oceans hold many treasures that we simply cannot afford to lose.
On the other hand, an ever-increasing world population will depend on the protein coming from marine and aquatic resources for food security. On average, 17 percent of the animal protein that we consume comes from fisheries and aquaculture. To find ways to ensure that this contribution to food security continues in a sustainable way, without affecting resources and their ecosystems, is the challenge behind FAO’s Blue Growth Initiative.
In some regions, the introduction of proper fisheries management schemes has restored fish stocks. In fact, FAO and the World Bank estimate that the potential economic gain from restoring fish stocks and reducing fishing capacity to an optimal level could be to the order of US$ 50 billion per year.
Despite the number of commitments and programs launched, overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries continue to be threats to sustainability, limiting the possibilities of growth.
We need to take a step further. We need to do more individually, collectively and we need to stimulate others as well. We not only need to commit, we need to act.
Implementing national, regional and global Blue Economy and Blue Growth strategies will help reduce stressors and maintain the functions and structure of aquatic ecosystems for the sustainable e use of oceans and waterways.
FAO is ready to play an active role in this process. Fisheries and aquaculture have been, of course, traditional areas of FAO assistance to our 197 Members. But we are now taking this support to another level and with a much greater integration to the wider context it is inserted in.
Our commitment and a vision of sustainable growth, food security and poverty eradication has led us to create the FAO Blue Growth Initiative. It provides a global framework through which FAO will assist countries to develop and implement the Blue Economy agenda.
The initiative aims to foster partnerships and act as a catalyst for policy development, investment and innovation in Support of Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources.
To give substance to this commitment, FAO continues to work towards improvements in the state of fisheries. In particular, with and through our Members, we work towards improved fisheries governance, and we seek to bring about
• Ratification of the Port State Measures Agreement by Member Countries (after its endorsement 5 years ago);
• Endorsement of the Flag State Performance Guidelines, and the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines at the FAO Committee on Fisheries this summer;
• Better tools against IUU fishing through the operationalization of the Global Record within the next two years;
• Support and strengthening of the Regional Fishery Bodies.
Of these, strengthening Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs) and their performances in order that fish stocks may be better conserved and managed remains the major challenge facing international fisheries governance. This is reinforced by the concerns over the state of exploitation of many fishery resources, especially those that are exploited significantly in the high seas, including straddling and highly migratory oceanic species.
The perceived lack of action by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and their inability in some cases to stem stock declines should be viewed in the context of the obstacles that many are facing.
A lack of political commitment by the members of some RFMOs and unyielding positions incompatible with sound regional fisheries management have thwarted, if not stalled, efforts undertaken within some RFMOs to meet and address conservation and management challenges.
Members must collaborate effectively, take difficult decisions and implement effectively these decisions, if they are to be successful – even though not all members have congruent interests. The strong political will of the Member States of each RFB must be the primary prerequisite for the effective role of RFBs.
And evidence of this will need to be accompanied by the additional resources to permit them to undertake the necessary research, monitoring, control and surveillance and other elements of effective management.
These are major challenges, and require not only the political support of FAO’s Members but also novel forms of intervention and partnerships to remove some of the constraints which impede real and sustainable progress.
As I said earlier, we not only need to commit, we need to act, and this is why we need this Action Summit. There is clear convergence between the thrusts of this Summit and the goals of FAO at several levels, and I hope that this Summit will identify some new approaches and avenues which will assist us in our endeavors.
To conclude, I want to emphasize that the Blue Economy is not an appendix to the sustainable development agenda. It is a central part of it, as has been clear since Rio+20. And we have no time to lose in tackling it. You can count on FAO.
By Árni M. Mathiesen
Assistant Director-General
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department