Greening The Ocean Economy: A Progress Report.

International audienceThe way we manage our global ocean economy continues to evolve. While new research clearly shows the importance of ocean ecosystems to people (Barbier et al., 2011), other evidence clearly depicts an ocean in decline (Pandolfi et al., 2003; Pauly et al., 2005; Worm et al., 2006). In response, the United Nations Environment Program along with organizations including UNDESA, UNDP, IMO, FAO, IUCN, GRID-Arendal and World Fish Center have promoted a new effort in relation to marine management and economic development that applies a green economy approach to the Blue World (UNEP et al., 2012). This approach seeks to change economic and industrial behavior to reduce impacts on the marine environment and in turn increase human welfare by carefully balancing the environmental, economic, and social capital that are required to support a sustainable, ecosystem-based approach to marine economic activity