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Imagine waking up one morning to find that the lungs of the Earth have been appropriated for business.  That the vast, ancient, breathing wilderness covering more than 70% of the planet’s surface – the source of every second breath we take, the regulator of our climate, the cradle of our food – has been carved up, zoned, auctioned and branded as an ‘economy.’ 

Let us not get shocked. It is already happening. It is being called the ‘blue economy.’ And on this World Ocean Day, as the United Nations invites us to “Reimagine: Beyond the World We Know, A New Relationship with Our Ocean,” we must face a disturbing truth.  The loudest voices reimagining the ocean are investment bankers, port developers and government planners with trillion-dollar ambitions. 

Sustainability wrapped in blue

The blue economy, as conceptualised by the United Nations and multilateral institutions initially, was born of genuine concern. The World Bank and United Nations, in their foundational 2017 report The Potential of the Blue Economy, argued that oceans – carrying about 80% of global trade by volume, producing oxygen for billions, feeding hundreds of millions – must be managed as natural capital rather than exploited as a free common.

They warned that around 31.4% of global fish stocks were already overfished, that illegal fishing was draining US$10–22 billion annually from the global economy, and that climate change, ocean acidification and sea-level rise were degrading the very ecosystems on which human welfare depends. 

UNEP articulated a similar vision – a blue economy that integrates economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability within ecological limits, generating an estimated US$2.5 trillion annually,  equivalent to the world’s seventh-largest economy while protecting the ecosystems that make this wealth possible. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14, ‘Life Below Water’ gave this vision a legal and moral weight.

However, these were documents that acknowledged hard truths. They spoke of the rights of small-scale fishers, Indigenous communities and coastal peoples. They demanded stronger governance, marine protected areas, and what researchers now call “safe and just” ecological limits for ocean use. But good frameworks, once released into the world, are quickly colonised by those with the most capital and the loudest lobbying voices.

When ‘blue’ becomes a licence to plunder

According to studies, the global ocean economy is projected to reach US$3 trillion by 2030, growing faster than the world economy itself. Coastal and marine tourism alone contributes about US$4.6 trillion annually, equivalent to 5.2% of global GDP. Offshore wind capacity reached 59,009 MW globally in 2023. The marine biotechnology market could expand from US$5.8 billion to US$11.7 billion by 2032. Aquaculture is projected to grow at 2% annually through........

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