Oceanographic: What does the term ‘blue economy’ stand for? What does it entail?

Markus Müller: For me, it’s surprising that the world is celebrating the term blue economy as something new. It’s nothing new, right? It’s a term that has existed since humanity has existed. I’ve quoted it somewhere, it’s from a book: that we as creatures or a species stand at the edge between land and maritime world, so for us, this shouldn’t be anything alien. But I think, based on the discussion about the change in our climate, the change caused by changes in the atmosphere, humanity also started to be more worried about the biodiversity and the other aspects of the world, which I call life pillars – the atmosphere, the land, as well as the maritime world. In this context, they have become more conscious that there is an entire economy around the ocean.

90% of global trade is shipped through the ocean. Around 3 billion people in the world depend on wild-caught and farmed seafood as a primary source of protein and many others depend indirectly on ecosystem services provided by the ocean. The mega cities of this world, I think eight out of 10 lie next to coastlines. I think this consciousness elevated the term ‘blue economy’. When I think about the next steps and what we really should focus on, it’s about the sustainable and equitable blue economy. How can we get something which has already existed since mankind existed transformed into something which is sustainable and equitable?

Oceanographic: How can the financial sector and business in general become more sustainable and fit for a nature-compliant future?

Markus Müller: It starts, I think, with being aware of what businesses are doing and what they have in their value chain. This is very, very important. I’m not sure how well it is known, be it by investors or by the companies itself, how far-reaching value chains are. If you take a textile company, for instance, you would rather think about it in a terrestrial context. But it also has a potential negative impact on the ocean, hence a tie to the blue economy. I think this is an important knowledge. Point number one: You need to be aware of your value chain.

Point number two: You need to be aware of the impact of your value chain towards the world you’re embedded in, and then you can steer it in various directions. And then point number three: We should understand how dependent the world really is on all the services the ocean and the blue economy deliver to us. It’s not just purely about the economic activity like trade. You also need to think about, for example, pharmaceutical products that are made from some of the resources we have in the ocean, as well as the ocean’s ability to regulate/mitigate climate change or weather. This is very important. Furthermore, from a security perspective, the ocean is important to us. A healthy ocean must be taken into account as an adaptation measure to climate change; coral reefs are natural breakwaters with healthy coral reefs found to reduce incoming wave energy by as much as 97%. If coral reefs are depleting, the ability to protect life on land against the power of mother nature will be lost in extreme weather events.

It’s about how we can better understand what the role of the ocean economy is and why it is so important to us. And if we turn this into a positive story, then we can say that being aware of this translates into being aware of the risk associated with degradation of nature. At the same time, we can generate opportunities while taking this into consideration. This, in turn, means that communities or individuals who are currently working in sectors of the blue economy that are not sustainable could as well really have an important role to play in making them equitable. As an example: A big chunk of individuals working in the fishery context are women. Women are paid less than men and I think this is a very good example of showcasing why putting a focus on a sustainable and equitable economy is so important.