How business can help restore the ocean’s ecosystems

Marine businesses—from industrial fisheries to holiday beach resorts—have contributed to the destruction of biodiversity in oceans. But they are also essential to restoring oceans to health, scientists and conservationists said at a recent World Ocean Summit Insight Hour webinar.

Opening the discussion, the moderator, Martin Koehring, head of the World Ocean Initiative, highlighted that awareness about the importance and value of nature and biodiversity is increasing. The recently published Dasgupta Review on the economics of biodiversity describes nature as “our most precious asset”. And The Economist Intelligence Unit recently released a study showing that issues of nature loss and biodiversity are gaining more traction online than ever before—and that an eco-wakening is under way.

Watch the full panel discussion:

Driving ocean restoration

Ocean-based industries such as fishing, aquaculture, renewable energy, shipping and tourism are key contributors to the global economy. However, these industries can also pose risks to the biodiversity and environmental sustainability of the ocean. The session therefore aimed to identify how business can be a key driver behind restoring the regenerative capacity of critical ecosystems.

Not only could companies have a major impact by shifting to responsible ocean practices—the private sector also has the resources to regenerate ocean ecosystems at scale, and fast.

“Businesses who depend on marine resources … have a responsibility not only to have limited impact but also to have a positive influence in terms of regenerating marine ecosystems,” said David Smith, chief marine scientist for Mars Petcare, and professor of marine biology at the University of Essex. “Ecosystem restoration … is an urgent matter … and working through business allows you to accelerate the impact of your research, accelerate good practices and to really have active interventions on the ground.”

Businesses work on a large scale through a complex system of supply-chain partners and can offer an advanced way of delivery, thinking and technology, said Torsten Thiele, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “This is about redirecting the way the economy works in a way that is nature-positive.”

The private sector can also mobilise science and capacity and drive much-needed investment into restoring oceans, said Rili Djohani, executive director of Indonesia’s Coral Triangle Centre (CTC), an NGO working on coastal and marine resources management.

Building partnerships

One important way to accelerate restoration of the oceans is for NGOs, community leaders and governments to form “radical partnerships” with businesses, said Jennifer Morris, chief executive of The Nature Conservancy. “The role of business, and the partnerships that businesses and NGOs can play, has never been more important than now.”

Half the world’s coral reefs were lost in the past 30 years, for example, and a quarter of marine life will be lost if they all die out. The only way to accelerate the restoration of oceans fast enough is by collaborating to develop innovative initiatives on the ground that can scale up, Ms Morris explained. “And that has to be with business.” The Nature Conservancy is working with Mars Petcare on the world’s largest coral-restoration programme.

Businesses also need NGOs because they provide a point of contact with local communities, who are pivotal in protecting their own coastal marine resources, the panel said.

Mars is working with CTC on coral restoration in Indonesia. The company brings science and technology to the partnership, and CTC connects it with nature-based communities and local governments, Ms Djohani explained.

Local communities have wisdom that is important to the projects, including knowing which solutions would work in each area. But partnerships are tough, and many of them fail. So the question is how to make these partnerships last and enrich the different cultures among business, NGOs, government and communities.

Scaling up

The oceans cannot be restored simply by making small-scale projects bigger—the process requires setting frameworks and standards, said Mr Thiele. The finance sector, including financial regulators and central banks, is putting “significant effort” into making the shift towards financing the right kind of activities and away from the wrong ones.

An entry point for the sector are the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, which outline what is considered sustainable and are hosted by the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures are also key.

Together these will deliver an ocean-finance architecture that could help mobilise significant capital in a way that also reduces risk. “I see blue natural capital as an emerging asset class,” Mr Thiele said. “The finance industry is really waking up to this opportunity.”

Governments too need to understand the value of nature and improve governance of the oceans. “Until we recognise the role of natural capital and the value of natural capital in the ecosystems of our economies”, conservation and restoration work will only be carried out on a project-by-project basis, said Ms Morris. “So we’ve got to make sure our governments are really … valuing nature in the long term.”

One important aspect is to improve governance of international waters, which fall outside national jurisdictions, said Mr Thiele. They cover half the planet and include some of the most unprotected yet biologically important ecosystems in the world, says the High Seas Alliance.

Scaling up ocean restoration will also require funding for scientists to answer questions around where best to do restoration and how to increase the rate of ocean recovery, said Professor Smith.

NGOs will also need support to activate restoration projects. “The key point is making sure that the international community recognises the value of ocean health”, he added. “We cannot survive without a sustainable way of utilising ocean resources. It underpins everything we do, and it’s an urgent need for us to protect it.”

The global conversation about accelerating a sustainable ocean economy will continue at the World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific, which will run as a virtual event on December 6th-10th 2021. The agenda features focused industry tracks on shipping, fishing, aquaculture, energy and plastics, and a track on finance.

Main image credit: Thanumporn Thongkongkaew/Shutterstock.com