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80% of people on Earth live in coastal areas, and the area of the World Ocean is about 71% of the planet’s surface. We understand what the “blue economy” is, how it differs from the “green” one, and why the future is in the water
In 2009, Belgian entrepreneur and economist Günter Pauli presented a report to the Club of Rome entitled “The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs”. Pauli presented a series of bold solutions to global problems, inspired by the fact that nature itself is able to solve any problem and proves it throughout the evolutionary path. The report aroused enthusiasm among the members of the club, Pauli’s ideas later became the basis of the book. The Blue Economy book was published in 2010, gained great popularity and has been translated into more than 40 languages.
Basic principles of the “blue economy”
Günter Pauli proposed the concept of a “circular” economy or “circular economy”, where production changes the movement from a linear one, where there are incoming and outgoing resources, to a circular one. If the economy worked in this way, then all the resources that are not required in one process would be absorbed by another process. This concept is based on the fact that there is virtually no waste in nature, and any by-product can become a resource for another product.
Pauli defines the blue economy as the restoration of an ecosystem through living in symbiosis with nature.
In addition to the main concept, 19 principles of the “blue economy” have been identified, summarized in three groups.
1. Inspiration from nature and water
The first principle in this group is: “Focus on physics.” Since the physical processes in nature are combined into an independent ecosystem, the “blue economy” suggests focusing on them. It is also important to think about optimization here, the aforementioned rejection of linearity, as well as diversity and going beyond the “organic” approach.
2. Changing the rules of the game
This group is more concerned with production and business, as well as the social side of the economy. For example, there is a paragraph that sounds like this: “Be healthy and happy.” The importance of returning nature to the direction of evolution, providing for the basic needs of all people and the value of everyone is also mentioned.
3. Living on your own territory
The main thing here is social processes. Ethics must be at the forefront, it is proposed to capitalize on the perspective economy, engage in vertical integration at all levels and create the maximum number of opportunities from one initiative.
Criticism of other concepts
Günter Pauli says that he was inspired to create a new concept of the economy, among other things, by his disillusionment with the system of the so-called “green economy”.
Pauli was involved in the implementation of the “green economy” in the 1990s and is considered one of the pioneers of the movement. However, later it became noticeable that this concept is not sustainable in everything and has a number of disadvantages: environmentally friendly and biodegradable products are often more expensive, while those that are harmful to nature and health are cheaper. Also, as part of the “green economy”, unscrupulous manufacturers can use greenwashing and mislead consumers.
As for the “red economy”, it favors mass production, and environmental resources are considered unlimited. This system is the most widespread in the world at the moment, and it was the “red economy” that led to the crisis of overproduction and the depletion of natural resources.
Thus, the “red economy” harms nature directly, while the “green” economy, although based on respect for the environment, requires the manufacturer to invest much more resources, ultimately leading to an increase in the cost of goods.
In addition to economic challenges, environmental ones are no less, if not more important. According to Greenpeace, up to 10 thousand field pipelines are depressurized in our country every year, and an oil spill occurs every hour! For example, in 2021 there was a major oil spill in the Black Sea, which polluted about 80 sq. km area.
Dmitry Kobylkin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection:
“We have a unique [national] project – “Ecology”, aimed at protecting the environment, it has been working since 2018 under a special decree. I traveled a lot around the world and did not see similar initiatives. We have a huge amount of water resources in our country: rivers, seas, lakes. There are territories where there are two lakes per inhabitant! I am now on the shores of Lake Baikal – this is our pearl, the lake contains 25% of the world’s fresh water. It is impossible not to take care of this lake, because we are responsible not only to ourselves, but also to the whole world.”
World Ocean
The key focus of the “blue economy” is on the sustainable development of industries related to the resources of the oceans. The ocean and seas play an exceptional role in the global economy: they provide food for 10-12% of people on Earth, absorb 30% of carbon dioxide, and the value of their resources is estimated at about $24 trillion.
Given this, the problems that humanity creates for the ocean are becoming extremely dangerous: water pollution due to industrial accidents and waste dumping, depletion of the living resources of the ocean and climate instability.
Dmitry Kobylkin:
“Our country plays a global role in the fight against the key problems of the “blue economy”, because our rivers flow through the country and flow into the Arctic Ocean. This is the Arctic – our “climatic kitchen”, as we call it. The state of the planet directly depends on the state of the Arctic Ocean, this is the responsibility of our country, and we understand it.”
Potential ocean
Great potential has the opportunity that the world’s oceans gives the economy – the renewable energy of the ocean.
Renewable energy is the energy obtained from those resources that are renewed by themselves, and by human standards they are inexhaustible. For example, the Sun can be considered as such a source.
The energy of water flows has been used by mankind since ancient Greece – in the XNUMXst century BC, the Greeks used a water wheel to grind wheat. Now, with the development of the “blue economy”, the receipt of marine renewable energy is widely spread. The most popular are offshore energy sources such as wind farms, floating solar power plants, etc. Such sources make it possible to obtain the energy of waves, tidal currents, and the thermal energy of the ocean.
Renewable energy sources are also actively put into operation and operate in our country; in 2022, renewable energy is produced by more than 200 large facilities.
Dmitry Kobylkin:
“First of all, our national project “Ecology” is important, however, in addition, each head of the subject that is connected with water, whether it be artesian water, mineral waters of the Caucasus or Baikal, allocates funds from the budget so that water resources are safe and security. I see this when I travel around the country and communicate with the heads of the subjects.”
In addition to energy, the oceans allow trade – at the moment, 90% of goods are transported by sea; it provides jobs for more than 200 million people employed in marine fisheries.
That is why the careful realization of the potential that the World Ocean can give is one of the main tasks of the “blue economy”.
The Blue Economy in Action
Diversity and ethics are important principles of the blue economy. Therefore, it is focused not only on large developed countries, but also perfectly suits, for example, small developing island states.
A great example of the blue economy in action is the story of the Spanish island of Hierro.
Hierro is the smallest island of the Canary archipelago, its area is just under 300 square meters. km. About 11 thousand people inhabit the island, and there are 500 volcanoes on it, some of which are active.
About 20 years ago, the island was semi-abandoned, and the government was developing a plan to resettle its inhabitants. However, the islanders developed a different plan and, in agreement with the authorities of Madrid, turned Hierro into an agricultural island with developed ecotourism and respect for nature.
First of all, the island acquired independent sources of energy and fresh water, agriculture was gradually rebuilt to a fully regenerative system, precise control of fishing was introduced, which ensured the safety of the living resources of the ocean. Thus, following the principles of the “blue economy”, the island is moving towards the creation of an independent local ecosystem.
At the moment, the local municipality is developing a project that will allow Hierro to become the only island in the world that lives entirely on renewable energy.