Understanding the Indian Ocean region

Workshop 4: Blue Economy and developments in the marine environment

Dr David Brewster
National Security College, Australian National University
e: dhbrewster@bigpond.com
m: +61 413 021 218
+ Today: Blue Economy and developments in the marine environment
Key topics:
 Different concepts of the Blue Economy
 Key Blue Economy initiatives in the region – what has been successful?
 Australia’s experience in building collaborative blue economy projects

Guest presenters:
 Mr Gatot Hari Gunaween, Acting Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association
 Mr Raj Mohabeer, Officer in Charge and Coordinator of the Regional Maritime Security programme,
Indian Ocean Commission – briefing on the Regional Action Plan on BE adopted by the IOC Council
and outcomes from regional workshops.
 Professor Marcus Haward, University of Tasmania/Program Leader – Blue Economy Cooperative
Research Centre (CRC) – Australia’s experience in building collaboration in the blue economy

Today’s readings:
 The Blue Economy in Australia, Sea Power Centre-Australia, 2017.
https://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/The-Blue-Economy-in-Australia-FINAL.pdf
 A new narrative for the Blue Economy and Blue Carbon, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, May
2019.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334462934_A_new_narrative_for_the_Blue_Economy_and
_Blue_Carbon
Potential components of the Ocean Economy

Source: The blue economy: Growth, opportunity and a sustainable ocean economy, The Economist
 Different ways of seeing the ‘Blue Economy’
Blue Economy can be understood in different ways, reflecting different stakeholder perspectives:
• Oceans as natural capital: This lens focuses on environmental protection and restoration, natural
capital, and community health and wellbeing, and is largely favoured by environmental NGOs
• Oceans as livelihoods: This lens focuses on food security and poverty alleviation, and is largely
favoured by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and development organisations.
• Oceans as good business: This lens focuses on economic growth, Marine Spatial Planning, and
strategies for growth in sustainable resource use, and is largely favoured by large and emerging global
economies, such as the EU and China, as well as the private sector.
• Oceans as drivers of innovation: This lens focuses on research and development, investment, and
monitoring, and is largely favoured by Government and industry groups.
 How these different perspectives affect our approaches to Blue Economy
Oceans as natural capital
Primary Ecosystem protection and/or
objectives restoration
Actors Conservation agencies/NGOs
Sectors Carbon intensive industries (e.g.,
oil and gas) excluded.
Focus on economic benefits
from conservation (e.g., eco-
tourism and Marine Protected
Areas (MPAs), Payment for
Ecosystem Services, Blue
Carbon, etc.)
Scale Small scale, locally based
Tools MPAs, Ecosystem Based
Management
Oceans as livelihoods
Poverty alleviation and food
security
Development agencies, SIDS,
Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF)
Primary focus on SSF/eco-
tourism with aspirations for
diversification, especially
aquaculture
Small scale, locally based
Community managed
fisheries/MPAs, Marine Spatial
Planning, Ecosystem Based
Management
Oceans as good business Oceans as a driver of innovation
Economic growth and Technological or technical
employment advances
Industry, larger global Academic institutes, industry, and
economies (EU, Organisation for Government
Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), China,
etc.)
All sectors included but primary All sectors but particularly
focus on large multi-national emerging industries like
corporations and sectors (e.g., renewables, biotechnology, and
shipping, oil and gas, deep sea mining
renewables, etc.)
Global/regional and national Sub-national districts or
provinces
Marine Spatial Planning, Innovation hubs/research
economic valuation studies, institutes, innovation ‘challenges’
targeted investment and growth or competitions,
strategies investment/financing strategies
 Contribution to Australian output from marine-related activities, 2013–14 ($ million)

Marine resource activities and industries

Fishing
Marine-based aquaculture $994.4
Commercial fishing (wild capture fisheries) $1,503.3
Recreational fishing $2,164.8
Offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction
Oil exploration $3,512.0
Oil production $9,144.5
Liquefied petroleum gas $1,265.1
Natural gas $16,304.7
Marine-related service activities and industries
Boat/shipbuilding, repair and maintenance services and infrastructure
Shipbuilding and repair (civil and defence) $2,966.0
Boatbuilding and repair (including recreational vessels) $1,235.0
Marinas and boating infrastructure $699.3
Marine equipment retailing $1,393.0
Marine tourism and recreational activities
Domestic consumption of tourism goods and services $23,815.3
International consumption of tourism goods and services $4,239.0
Water transport
Water-based transport of passengers and freight $3,847.0
Total measurable value from marine-related activities
$73,083.3
Source: Australian Institute of Marine Science, The AIMS Index of Marine Industry, December 2016, online.
 Blue Economy: Some issues
• Building an Integrated Oceans Policy:
 Better national regulatory coordination – single regulator?
 Marine Spatial Planning
 International cooperation
 Innovative financing solutions
• Role of maritime security in Blue Economy:
 Providing stability for economic develop
 Protecting maritime trade routes
 Secure maritime assets and infrastructure
 Managing transnational crime e.g. piracy, IUU fishing, smuggling
 Key roles played in Maritime Search and Rescue, Response to natural or man-made disasters
(e.g. oil spills)
• Impact of exclusion/inclusion of particular sectors of the Ocean Economy in the Blue Economy
+
Next workshop…..
Workshop 5: Regional Cooperation in the Indian Ocean

 Existing multilateral groupings in the Indian Ocean

 The rise of ‘minilateral’ groupings as a way of responding to strategic competition
and security threats
 Potential for enhanced regional engagement in areas such as trade and
environmental security – how to strengthen existing mechanisms?