Ocean conservation and its impact on the world’s economy

Ocean conservation and its impact on the world’s economy - Study by WWF

Earlier this month, the World Wildlife Fund released a study on how ocean conservation can impact the world’s economy. Done through VU University in Amsterdam and funded by the WWF, the study’s findings show that thousands of jobs could be created and billions of dollars could be generated by 2050 through ocean conservation alone. Better yet, the benefits to our oceans would exceed the costs involved.

All this information comes at a great time, too.

The study was conducted and released prior to the UN’s post-2015 sustainable development agenda in September and the Pope’s Encyclical on the Environment due to be released in a few days time. The report recommends ocean conservation items be one of the topics in this meeting in September.

In the report, the WWF pushed for 10 percent of the oceans to be protected by 2020 and 30 percent protected by 2030. At the moment, only four percent of the oceans are protected. Current existing protection regions include the Mediterranean, Coral Triangle and coastal Africa.

According to the Director General of the WWF, Marco Lambertini, these areas already exhibit the positive environmental and economic impacts conservation offers. In Fiji, locally managed marine areas have been able to reduce poverty, benefit health, strengthen government and, of course, conserve the ocean. In particular, these added conservation jobs would offset damages to our oceans from pollution, overfishing and harsh environmental factors.

Over the course of 35 years, the study estimates that US$490-$920 billion could be generated by expanding these protection zones. The number of jobs created falls somewhere between 150,000 and 180,000. In the study, the organization stated that marine protected areas “are known to attract and sustain coastal tourism and recreation, supporting growth of employment and commerce”.

WWF’s website lists a number of “priority places” for ocean conservation, which include but are not limited to, the Arctic, Black Sea, Madagascar, the Baltic Sea and Gulf of California.

There are a number of alarming facts and issues — such as climate change and hurricanes — that prove we need to act on ocean conservation. Nature and climate change are not the only dangerous factors facing our oceans: we are as well. According to the Conservation for the Oceans Foundation, humans are currently practicing habits that are significantly hurting our oceans. Human activities account for 97 percent of all coral disease. Unsustainable fishing kills more than five million sharks a year. Approximately 80 percent of marine pollution comes from land. In Asia and Eastern Africa, 90 percent of human waste and sewage is discarded into the ocean. Particularly frightening are the number of “dead zones” in the oceans. These are areas in oceans that are larger than the United States and devoid of and unable to host life. Currently, there are more than 200 dead zones in the oceans.

We already know the good ocean conservation does for the environment, the ecosystem and the creatures living within it. That should be enough as is. But now we have facts that show it’s not only good for our environment, but it’s good for our economy, too.

ENDS

© Scoop Media