Blue Economy

It's Time to Stop Funding Overfishing -- As governments look to spark a green recovery, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, they should take care to not do more damage than good. Rather than subsidizing fishing activities that hurt the ocean, communities, and the economy, governments have an opportunity to reroute funding toward efforts that bring benefits to marine health and human well-being... The Economist estimates upwards of $4 billion in subsidies each year may support illegal fishing activity... Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates that effective management of global marine fisheries and the recovery of fish stocks would yield increased revenues of $83 billion a year.

The global conservation community has taken a big step toward embracing behavioral approaches to conservation challenges! Last week, IUCN members overwhelmingly adopted Rare's (rare.org/) co-sponsored motion before the #IUCNCongress to “address conservation as a behavioral challenge." The motion paves the way for practitioners to incorporate behavior-centered design (BCD) into their programs.

Members of the International Coral Reef Initiative have agreed on the steps we must take, including to develop and use better tools, or indicators, to measure progress. Now governments have to act.

Protect small-scale fisheries: an income perspective

Coastal agriculture research, I like this interdisciplinary views!

The EC Council just adopted new conclusions for the EU biodiversity strategy, which includes "creating a coherent network of well-managed protected areas... to protect at least 30% of the EU’s sea area"!

Samoan government pledges to manage 100% and protect 30% of its ocean area. Listen to the podcast and watch the video about this important new strategy. Read the full strategy here: https://www.mnre.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Samoa-Ocean-Strategy…

Check out this great new podcast by WRI on sustainable #ocean economies

Check out the Panda Pod's latest podcast on oceans, environmental education, and sustainable seafood

New WEF blog by Ghislaine Llewellyn at WWF on how building with nature can lead a green recovery for our coasts. Mangrove forests are the best-documented example of natural or green infrastructure. Recent estimates of their economic value for flood risk reduction exceed $65 billion a year.