The Blue Economy and Blue Growth

The concepts of the Blue Economy and Blue Growth are related. The Blue Economy refers to the use of seas and coasts for economic activities. Blue Growth refers to the expansion of such marine and coastal activities in a planned way. The latter also involves sustainability: Blue Growth strategies include the premise that healthy ocean ecosystems are more productive (and therefore more supportive of ocean-based economies) than unhealthy ones – so such growth should be done with conservation and long-term sustainability in mind.

The following items offer a primer on these concepts and how they can be used to advance economies, often in a sustainable way.

Literature

• Report on the Blue Growth Strategy: Towards more sustainable growth and jobs in the blue economy

• How can marine ecosystem services support the Blue Growth agenda?

• Cooperation and the emergence of maritime clusters in the Atlantic: Analysis and implications of innovation and human capital for blue growth

• The potential for blue growth in marine fish yield, profit and abundance of fish in the ocean

• Developing European operational oceanography for Blue Growth, climate change adaptation and mitigation and ecosystem-based management

• Achieving Blue Growth through maritime spatial planning: Offshore wind energy optimization and biodiversity conservation in Spain

• Towards defining the Blue Economy: Practical lessons from pacific ocean governance

• Standards and the Blue Economy

• Reviving The Western Indian Ocean Economy

• Reviving Melanesia's Ocean Economy: The Case for Action

MEAM articles

• Tundi’s Take: Is blue growth taking us where we want to go?

• Dispatches from the Field: When MSP enables Blue Growth, who benefits?

• Marine Spatial Planning ten years later: A conversation with Charles “Bud” Ehler

News

• European Commission takes initiative to support Blue Growth through sustainable management of marine and coastal areas

• Developing a Blue Economy in China and the United States (via Center for American Progress)

• Blue Economy course available free online from the University of Seychelles

• Africa: Effective Governance Central to Unlocking the Potential of the Blue Economy

Blog

• Tensions between achieving good environmental status and blue growth in Europe's seas are increasing?