Proceedings of Blue Economy for Business: Building an East Asian Seas Sustainable Business Network (EASC2015 Special Event)

PUBLICATION DATE:

Saturday, November 21, 2015

PUBLICATION TYPE:

Meeting Documents

STATUS:

Only Available Online

DESCRIPTION:

At the EAS Congress 2012, ministers from 10 countries in the region signed the Changwon Declaration, calling for an increased focus on developing a blue economy in the region. PEMSEA recognized that the concept of blue economy lacked definition, particularly for the private sector, and set out to conduct research on the topic, including companies from several industries. PEMSEA launched a new report at the Congress on Blue Economy for Business in East Asia (available at http://www.pemsea.org/our-work/blue-economy). The report describes the importance of coastal and marine ecosystem services to the economies of East Asia (up to 20% of GDP for some countries in the region), and the impact on business from continuing degradation of ecosystems (business value related to these risks could be as high as 25‐70% of earnings). The concept of blue economy has been evolving, primarily with governments and intergovernmental organizations, but with increasing interest from the private sector. The report defines blue economy as “the set of environmentally and socially sustainable commercial activities, products, services and investments dependent on and impacting coastal and marine resources”.