Check out this recent IUCN report on the Regenerative Blue Economy if you are interested in what the future of the blue economy should look like. Christian Lim is a member of the adivsory committee on this initiative and glad to share his views on the report:
"The main message: The report builds a historical perspective to explain why the 'blue economy', or even the 'sustainable blue economy', are not sufficient anymore. As the decline of ocean life has already been so dramatic that there is not much left to sustain or conserve, we need to raise our ambition and aim at a 'Regenerative Blue Economy'. One that actively addresses climate change an biodiversity loss. Alexandra Cousteau first convinced me of this in 2018 and it has guided my efforts in the space since. As a member of the advisory committee of this report, this was the main message I tried to pass on.
The report (page 11, box 1) says the Regenerative Blue Economy is based on "scientifically grounded assessments". Indeed, I believe we will succeed in building a Regenerative Blue Economy only if we can embed science at the core of economic decisions. We need to overhaul our economic governance (shareholder meetings, boards, investment committees, etc...) to achieve this. This is why for example at SWEN Blue Ocean we created an Impact Committee composed of science and conservation experts to help us make the right investment decisions. We need to do this at scale, across the economy.
Pages 30-31 of the report recognizes the potential of the impact framework of the Ocean Impact Navigator, developed by 1000 Ocean Startups, to apply to the economy as a whole, not just startups. I have always believed that, meaning the impact of the Navigator may expand beyond ocean startups at some point. Helping characterize what belongs to the Regenerative Blue Economy is a step in that direction.
Congratulations to the lead authors, Raphaela le Gouvello, François Simard and the IUCN team."
You can find the report here.