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BLUE Economics

Part think-tank and part practitioner, Blue Economics is a new division which aims to bridge the gap between conservation and finance.

If we are to advert catastrophic climate change and loss of biodiversity, we need a step change in the way nature is valued. A report by the Paulson Institute puts a price on this need: $711 billion in a year. It is this need for a quantum leap in funding for nature that Blue Economics was set up to explore.

Blue Economics examines the economics of ocean use and abuse. We quantify the poor economics of overfishing, which is not only harming the ocean, but is inefficient, heavily subsidised and reliant on exploitation of human beings. We assess the economics of sustainable fishing and the value it can bring to local livelihoods. We examine how protection and restoration can be delivered at scale if we can calculate the value of carbon, methane and nitrogen stored in the marine life that we are protecting and restoring.

Above all, Blue Economics will work with the financial sector to develop innovative financial mechanisms which we hope will mobilise the quantum of capital needed to protect the ocean and restore it to health.

The Blue Economics team has recently launched a new series of reports which will reveal much the ocean is — and might be — worth. Check out the first one here:

In a healthy ocean we’d be swimming in money 

 

 

Key stats

Large scale fisheries discard 10 million tonnes of fish and other sea life at sea

 

Small scale fisheries employ around 11 million more people than large scale fisheries

 

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