Blue Economy

Benefits 

A healthy ocean provides jobs and food, sustains economic growth, regulates the weather, and supports the well-being of coastal communities.

Billions of people worldwide —including some of the world’s poorest— rely on a healthy ocean as a vital source of jobs and food, which underscores the urgent need to sustainably use, manage and protect this natural resource. 

As the largest carbon sink, the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases and significantly mitigates the impacts of climate change. Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows sequester and store more carbon per unit area than terrestrial forests. In addition, they also protect coastal communities from floods and storms. 

While FAO estimates that the fisheries and aquaculture sector employs   62 million people in primary fish production, about 600 million livelihoods rely on fisheries and aquaculture. Over 80% are from small-scale fisheries. In 2021, aquatic animal foods provided about 3.2 billion people with at least 20 percent of their average intake of animal protein, with an even higher proportion in many poor countries (FAO 2022). 

Challenges 

Yet the ocean is in crisis due to rising temperatures and acidification. Coasts are threatened by sea level rise. Over-exploitation of resources, marine pollution, loss of biodiversity, and extreme weather events are putting billions of people, their jobs and marine life in peril.  

While ocean resources boost growth and wealth, they have been brought to the brink from anthropogenic impacts. The FAO estimates that, worldwide, the percentage of fishery stocks not within biologically sustainable levels rose from 10 percent in 1974 to 37.7 percent in 2021. However, FAO also highlights that around 80% of the catch is being made from stocks that are sustainably managed.

Globally, fish stocks are significantly affected by Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing, though the exact magnitude is difficult to assess. According to the World Bank study The Sunken Billions Revisited, fishing less would result in a 40% increase in global landed value, while also reducing the costs by more than 40%. The study further shows that a sustainable equilibrium for global marine fisheries, at which point the maximum net benefits could be achieved, would require a reduction of the global fishing effort by 44%. 

The ocean is also threatened by pollution from land and sea activities. Plastics are one of the most visible parts of this pollution. Microplastics have been found around the world, in the food chain, air, ocean, rainwater, and even in ice in the Arctic. Plastic pollution hurts economies, ecosystems, and food security. Evidence is rising on the potential impacts on human health, including the presence of microplastics in our blood. 

An estimated 15 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year (PEW), and is expected to increase significantly by 2040. Without proper actions along the value chain, the total cost to governments of managing plastic waste between 2021 and 2040 will by some estimates reach US$670 billion. The cost of inaction can be particularly high for businesses (estimated at US$100 billion annual financial risk, by 2040). 

Solutions 

Improved fisheries management, reduction of harmful fisheries subsidies, investment in sustainable aquaculture and protection could restore the productivity of the ocean and generate billions of dollars in developing countries, while ensuring future growth, food security and jobs for coastal communities.

Conserving these ecosystems can help countries adapt and become more resilient to sea level rise and coastal erosion. Ocean warming can be addressed by storing carbon and reducing ocean acidification to make coastal communities safer and more prosperous. 

Addressing plastic pollution requires solutions that are complex, multi-sectoral, and country specific such as: 

• Improving solid waste management, and building a more circular economy for public and private sectors; 

• Designing out waste and pollution, developing alternatives to single-use plastics or redesigning them to make them more recyclable;

• Promoting the development of new industry sectors such as reuse/remanufacture;  

• Developing more financially sustainable recycling markets;

• Restoring ecosystems by cleaning up.

Coastal communities, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), are heavily reliant on marine resources for jobs and food security. Engaging these communities, including women, indigenous people and other vulnerable groups, in conservation, restoration, and the sustainable management of natural habitats is a win-win. Not only does it provide much-needed income in the short term, but it also builds socio-economic resilience in the long-term. 

Last Updated: Apr 21, 2025

The World Bank is transforming its ocean portfolio with the adoption of a Blue Economy approach. It is defined as the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and job creation while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems. 

A Blue Economy fosters low-carbon, resource-efficient growth that creates jobs and reduces poverty. Typically, the holistic development of individual oceanic sectors is integrated with the other sectors, to manage impacts and restore ocean health. An integrated approach to ocean management, it is sustainable, inclusive and restorative in nature.

As of FY24, the World Bank’s blue economy portfolio exceeded $10.5 billion in active projects, including in:

• sustainable fisheries and aquaculture;  

• integrated coastal and marine ecosystem management;

• circular economy and solid waste management; 

• sustainable coastal tourism; 

• maritime transport; and  

• offshore renewable energy.

The World Bank Group supports countries to promote strong governance of marine and coastal resources and improve their contributions to sustainable and inclusive economies. Analytics, technical expertise, and financing are three tactics. For example, the World Bank convenes partners and stakeholders to mobilize ocean investment, advocate for positive reforms and ensure that a healthy ocean remains on the global development agenda.

The Bank’s engagement in the Blue Economy is driven through  PROBLUE, an umbrella multi-donor trust fund , which supports  the sustainable and integrated development of marine and coastal resources in a healthy ocean. PROBLUE contributes to the World Bank’s vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. Acting as an accelerator, it provides solutions for the sustainable growth from the ocean. 

The World Bank supports the development of the Blue Economy in a growing number of countries and regions, including  Belize, the Eastern Caribbean, Mozambique, Pacific Island Countries, and Somalia. Regional assistance is helping to combat marine pollution and coastal erosion in the Middle East and North Africa and West Africa. 

Some prominent knowledge products  produced by the World Bank to advise countries with their transition to a blue economy approach include:

• Unlocking Blue Carbon Development: Investment Readiness Framework for Governments

• Riding the Blue Wave: Applying the Blue Economy Approach to World Bank Operations

• Global Seaweed New and Emerging Markets Report 2023 

• Bridging the Gap in Solid Waste Management: Governance requirements for Results

• The Potential of Zero-Carbon Bunker Fuels in Developing Countries

• Marine Spatial Planning for a Resilient and Inclusive Blue Economy Toolkit

• What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 

Last Updated: Apr 21, 2025

The West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) aims to improve the management of shared natural and man-made risks affecting coastal communities in 17 West African countries on the coastline, from Mauritania to Gabon. The WACA program provides countries with access to technical expertise and finance to support the sustainable development of coastal zones, using the management of coastal erosion and hazardous flooding as entry point. The program consists of a series of coastal resilience investment projects (ResIP) and a scale-up Platform. The WACA ResIP was approved by the World Bank in April 2018. The financial package includes $190 million from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and a grant of $20.25 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to initially cover six countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal and Togo). Preparations are underway to start projects in Ghana and Nigeria. WACA works with existing regional institutions, including the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union, the Abidjan Convention, the Center for Ecological Monitoring, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The WACA Platform has three functions: to facilitate and increase access to knowledge, expertise, global good practices, and technical assistance; to leverage and crowd-in financing for coastal resilience investments; and to provide a forum for dialogue to facilitate the involvement of other key partners, including the private sector. Currently, partners in France, Japan, Netherlands, Nordic countries, and Spain are engaged in scaling up the finance needed for coastal resilience through the WACA Finance Marketplace.

In 2022, the World Bank Coastal Fisheries Initiative – Challenge Fund (CFI-CF)  launched a competition  seek collaborative solutions to reduce overfishing by supporting coordination among fishers and collaboration across seafood value chains. In August, CFI-CF announced the winners of its competition for collaborative solutions to overfishing. They demonstrated the power of collaboration between seafood value chain actors with common goals. The competition sought applicants from Cabo Verde, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Peru who submitted thirty proposals. The four winners and four runners-up outlined original approaches for how their coalitions will reduce overfishing, improve sustainable fishing practices, and increase incomes of fishers and others in value chain. They focus on diverse approaches, tailored to local conditions, such as sustainable product marketing, improved fishing equipment and practices, and supply chain initiatives to build the seafood industry and consumer support. The winning solutions are described on SolutionsToOverfishing.org.

In the Southwest Indian Ocean, Mozambique’s fisheries sector has great growth potential and the ability to boost economic output by providing significantly larger returns and by contributing to poverty alleviation. The Mais Peixe Sustentável project under the SWIOFish Program aims to reduce rural poverty, increase shared prosperity and promote development by encouraging investment in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture value chains. More than a thousand artisanal fisher households have already benefited from the project since its launch in February 2019.

In Vietnam, the World Bank has helped the government understand sources of land-based plastic pollution to inform the implementation of their National Action Plan on the Management of Marine Plastic Litter. In addition, it devised a roadmap that supports the government in phasing out the production, import, and use of certain single-use plastics. The World Bank also supports the implementation of the Action Plan for Marine Plastic Waste Management in the Fisheries Sector. The Bank has conducted investment and reform analysis for solid waste management in selected cities. A joint World Bank and IFC team paved the way for private sector solutions in plastics recycling via value-chain diagnostics and public-private dialogue, and ultimately to catalyze investments.

Indonesia—the world’s largest archipelagic country—is home to rich ocean ecosystems of tremendous economic potential. For over two decades, the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project (COREMAP) has been supporting the government of Indonesia in harnessing the benefits of the blue economy. The initial stages of COREMAP successfully supported communities in taking part in managing their own coastal resources. Now in its third phase, the project is strengthening Indonesia's ocean research capacity by upgrading laboratories, training scientists, and undertaking nationwide ecosystem monitoring. It is also improving management effectiveness in nationally significant marine protected areas in Raja Ampat, West Papua and Sawu Sea, East Nusa Tenggara, through ecotourism initiatives, community-based surveillance against illegal fishing, and threatened species conservation.

The Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) is working with seven countries and the Pacific regional Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) to support the management of the region’s greatest wealth: the fish stocks of the Pacific Ocean and the environments that support them. PROP consists of both oceanic and coastal fisheries components that support countries to better manage fisheries and habitats to generate export earnings and public revenue from fishing license fees for the country; and to support livelihoods, food security and improve diets. For ocean fisheries, PROP supports work to strengthen the capacity of national and regional fisheries authorities to optimize production and ensure national authorities can gain and maintain access to high value export markets, such as the European Union. PROP also supports work to ensure fish entering the markets are safe and legally caught. This includes work to upskill staff and fund infrastructure for monitoring, control and surveillance of commercial fishing vessels, to ensure their adherence to regulations and fishing license conditions. For coastal fisheries, PROP support includes giving communities the skills to manage coastal fisheries, diversify their income streams, and help get sustainable coastal fish products to regional markets.

The fisheries sector in the Caribbean is a major source of livelihoods and contributes significantly to food security in the region as well as the tourism sector, which many islands depend on. Rapid recovery of the fisheries sector after a disaster is critical for the food security of many communities in the Caribbean. The fishing industry now can count on a parametric insurance product developed specifically for the fisherfolk in the Caribbean by the Caribbean Oceans and Aquaculture Sustainability Facility (COAST). COAST was launched in two countries: Grenada and Saint Lucia. With financial support from the U.S. Department of State and the World Bank, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF SPC), and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) have developed this first ever parametric insurance for the fisheries sector, which is designed to enhance resilience against the impacts of climate-related disasters. This helps build a stronger foundation for the blue economy while supporting the livelihoods of those who depend on this valuable marine natural capital.

Building the foundation for the Blue Economy in the Eastern Caribbean, the Bank approved the Caribbean Regional Oceanscape Project (CROP) in 2017. Financed by GEF, the project strengthened the capacity for ocean governance and coastal and marine geospatial planning in five countries of the Eastern Caribbean: Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. More specifically, the project  helped strengthen ocean governance through: (a) development of coastal and marine spatial plans and associated training, (b) development of national and regional ocean strategies and policies, (c) strengthening knowledge and capacity of public, private, and civil society sectors by expanding access to ocean data and ocean education with innovative tools for decision making, and (d) supporting an investor roundtable to forge new partnerships and raise interest in investing in countries’ transition to a blue economy. The project produced an impressive array of ocean education materials and ocean data to support decision making in the region. Thanks to CROP, a new US$60 million series of projects “Unleashing the Blue Economy of the Caribbean (UBEC)”, financed by IDA and PROBLUE, has been designed to advance the Blue Economy agenda across the region.

Lastly, an example from Europe where, in Romania, the Integrated Nutrient Pollution Control Project (INPCP) supports meeting the EU Nitrates Directive requirements by reducing nutrient discharges to water bodies, promoting behavioral change at the communal/regional level, and strengthening institutional and regulatory capacity. 

Last Updated: Apr 03, 2024