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Blue Economy: Initiatives in the East Asian Seas

Maria Corazon Ebarvia

Project Manager, PEMSEA

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Ocean… the new frontier

• It holds the promise of immense resource wealth

• Great potential for boosting economic growth, trade,

employment and innovation.

• Indispensable for addressing many of the global challenges

– world food security

– climate change

– provision of energy, water, new medicines,

oil, gas, minerals and other natural resources

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Blue economy

• Changwon Declaration 2012

• sustainable use of ocean resources for

economic growth, livelihoods and jobs, while

preserving the health of oceans and ecosystems

• Realising the full potential of the ocean

demands responsible, sustainable and inclusive

approaches to its economic development.

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Blue economy in international agreements

• SDG 14: conservation and sustainable use of the oceans,

seas and marine resources for sustainable development

• Rio+20: ocean as natural capital; oceans as good

business; oceans as integral to Pacific SIDS; and oceans

as small-scale fisheries livelihoods

• APEC 2014: fostering economic growth through

conservation and sustainable development and

management (Xiamen Declaration 2014)

• UNCLOS; Aichi biodiversity targets; CBD; Ramsar

Convention; CITES; MARPOL; UNFCCC; etc.

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Ocean economy

• Ocean-industry dimension

• Natural assets, goods and ecosystem services that the

ocean provides

– fish, shipping lanes, oil and gas, carbon absorption, shoreline

protection, waste assimilation, recreation, etc.

• Impacts of the ocean economy and human activities

• These are inextricably inter-linked.

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Scope of the ocean economy

• Fisheries & Aquaculture

• Oil and Gas; ultra-deep water oil and gas

• Mining (Minerals); deep seabed mining

• Energy (ocean energy; offshore wind)

• Water (desalination)

• Manufacturing:

• seafood processing,

• marine biotechnology & pharmaceuticals,

• salt,

• ship building and repair, marine transport

equipment

• Marine Construction and dredging

• Shipping and Ports

• Marine tourism and recreation

• Public/Government

• Marine communications (submarine cables)

• Marine education and research

• Marine services (mapping, monitoring, consulting,

martitime insurance, maritime safety and

surveillance)

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Size of the ocean economy in EAS region

Ocean Economy (Gross value added, in US$ billion, in 2015)

Cambodia 2.39

China 1,041.92

Indonesia 182.54

Malaysia 63.00

Philippines 11.81

RO Korea 43.53 (2013)

Singapore 20.78 *

Thailand 118.19

Timor Leste 1.97

Viet Nam 38.23

TOTAL ~1,5 T Blue carbon value (est):

Mangroves: $111 B

Seagrass: $77-95 B

CountryValue of ecosystem

services (US$)

Cambodia 83.4 M – 400 M*

Indonesia 412 B

Malaysia 17.7 B

Philippines 17 B

RO Korea 40.5 B - 42.6 B

Thailand 36 B

Timor Leste 5.25 B

TOTAL ~531.5 B

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Source of economic growth and jobs

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Ocean as natural capital

Source: World Bank 2016; FAO

Fisheries

Offshore oil and gas

Source: WTTC 2017

Marine tourism

~ $200 billion (gross

value added of tourism)

Countries in EAS Region account for:

63% of global fisheries

• 80% of global aquaculture = $100B

• 40% of world’s capture fisheries = $35B

US$34B annually

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Transforming to blue economy: Emerging industries

• Ocean energy (RO Korea, China, Japan)

• Offshore and coastal wind power (Philippines, Thailand)

Renewable energy

Desalination (Singapore, China, Japan)

Marine biotechnology (Philippines, China)

Climate resilient infrastructure

Green ports

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Fisheries and Aquaculture: Transforming to blue economy

Marine ranch and integrated multi-

trophic aquaculture

(YSLME, China, RO Korea)

Climate-smart aquaculture

(Viet Nam)

Conservation and sustainable sourcing of blue swimming crabs

(Philippines)

Crab condominium

(Thailand)

Seaweed farming at

industrial scale (Indonesia)

Catch documentation and traceability system

(Philippines, Indonesia)

Community-based fish

sanctuaries (Cambodia)

Mud crab culture and mangrove rehabilitation

(Timor Leste)

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Transforming to blue economy: Sustainable Tourism

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Ports and shipping:Transforming to blue economy

Joint oil spill response (GOT); ASEAN MoU

National oil spill prevention and response

PSHEMS

Shore-based power supply using renewable energy

Shore reception facilities

Clean ships initiative

Solar-powered boats

Green ports

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Blue economy initiatives and SDG 14

EAS Congress 2018

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State of Oceans and Coasts reports

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Challenges and needs

Oceans still not a priority

Lack of national ocean policy and

institutional arrangements

Need for common understanding of

blue economy

Need to link to the SDGs and other

international agreements

Data constraints

Ocean economy accounts: not part of

regular stats…data disaggregation;

standardization

Lack of environmental monitoring system: data on marine water quality, wastes, fish

stocks, area and condition

of habitats, etc.

Lack of studies on valuation of ecosystem

services

Moving forward

changing role of governance

emergence of the private sector as an important

actor for ensuring

sustainable and inclusive well-

being

Circular economy and climate resiliency