Africa has access to nearly 20 million square kilometers of oceans, seas, and inland waters—resources that hold significant promise for sustainable economic development. This vast aquatic domain forms the foundation of what is known as the blue economy, a model focused on generating economic growth, employment, and improved living standards without compromising marine ecosystems. The G20 and the African Union recognize this sector as vital for the continent’s transformation, emphasizing sustainable management to ensure long-term benefits for future generations.
The blue economy encompasses a diverse range of industries. Island nations such as Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, and Mauritius, along with 38 coastal African countries, are well-positioned to leverage these opportunities. Key sectors include aquaculture, marine-based pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals—such as kelp-derived fertilizers—carbon sequestration in coastal habitats like mangroves and seagrass, seawater desalination, and renewable energy technologies harnessing wind, wave, and tidal power.
Fisheries already play a crucial role in food security, supporting over 200 million people across the continent. The sector, which includes inland and marine fishing, processing, fleet licensing, and aquaculture, employs more than 12 million individuals. Its annual economic contribution exceeds US$24 billion, accounting for 1.26% of Africa’s total gross domestic product (GDP) and 6% of agricultural GDP as of 2021.
To guide development, the African Union introduced the 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy. This framework aims to accelerate economic growth through responsible use of maritime resources, balancing ecological preservation with industrial expansion. Its central goal is to increase wealth derived from oceans, seas, and inland waterways without degrading marine environments.
However, several obstacles hinder progress. Pollution originating from land, illegal fishing, climate change impacts such as rising sea levels and ocean acidification, and disease outbreaks threaten marine sustainability. Overfishing, in particular, undermines fish populations, weakening the viability of ocean-dependent industries. These pressures are intensified by growing global demand for food, energy, transportation, and medical resources sourced from marine environments.
Under its G20 presidency, South Africa has advanced ocean conservation policies rooted in its domestic Operation Phakisa initiative, which promotes maritime economic development through improved governance and marine protection. Building on Brazil’s 2024 Ocean 20 initiative, South Africa is pushing for practical implementation of collaborative ocean governance involving governments, researchers, private enterprises, and civil society.
Key actions include increasing investment in research and technology commercialization, supporting workforce development through continuous education and skill upgrades—especially in response to advancements in artificial intelligence and automation—and strengthening partnerships among public institutions, businesses, investors, and local communities. Cross-sector cooperation is essential to align efforts, pool resources, and ensure accountability.
Sustainable ocean development cannot be achieved by any single entity or sector in isolation. It requires coordinated engagement among national governments, international bodies, academic institutions, non-profits, and individuals—all committed to responsible stewardship of marine resources.
— news from Phys.org
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How to harness the ocean for prosperity: Funding African innovations can unlock the blue economy
Africa has an enormous ocean area at its disposal. There are almost 20 million square kilometers of ocean, seas and inland water that could be developed into environmentally sustainable blue economies. The G20 group of 19 of the world’s largest economies and the African Union also view the blue economy as key to developing the continent. Nomtha Hadi researches blue economies. She talks to The Conversation Africa about the main challenges in developing blue economies in Africa. n nWhat is the blue economy? n nThe blue economy refers to using water and ocean resources to create economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs—and doing this in a way that is sustainable. n nA blue economy therefore needs to be based on a sustainable balance between often competing ecological and economic goals. It must be effectively managed so that it does not damage the marine environment. This will allow the blue economy to grow and benefit future generations. n nWhat kind of industries exist in the blue economy? n nThere is much potential. Africa includes the island states of Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar, and 38 of the 54 African countries are coastal states. The continent also already has new and developing blue economy industries. These include: n naquaculture n nbio-products (pharmaceutical and agrichemical, such as fertilizer made from kelp) n nblue or ocean carbon (carbon stored in mangroves, seagrass and saltmarsh) n nseawater desalination n nmarine renewable energy technologies for wind, wave and tidal energy. n nAlready, freshwater and marine fish contribute to the food security of more than 200 million people in Africa. The continent’s fishing industry is vast. It includes inland and marine fisheries, processing facilities, licensing of local fleets of boats, and aquaculture. It provides employment for more than 12 million people on the continent. n nIts value has been estimated at more than US$24 billion annually. By 2021, this represented 1.26% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) and 6% of the agricultural GDP of all African countries. n nThe African Union has developed a 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy. This is a plan for how the blue economy could speed up economic transformation and sustainable development in Africa. It also sets out how Africa’s maritime domain could be exploited without damaging the marine environment. n nIts overarching vision is to foster increased wealth creation from Africa’s oceans, seas and inland waters. n nWhat are the main challenges in developing blue economies in Africa? n nThe ocean provides food for many people. Coastal communities often provide jobs, energy and raw materials. This enables global trade as well as recreational and cultural services. Yet, developing and growing the ocean economy is becoming a serious challenge. n nMarine resources are vital for meeting global needs like food, energy, jobs, medicine and transport. But as people and corporations use the ocean more, they also put greater pressure on its ecosystems. n nAcross the world and in Africa, the ocean is under pressure from pollution and climate change. Rising temperatures, sea levels, acidification, and loss of marine life are major concerns. n nIn Africa, key threats to the blue economy include pollution (mostly from land), illegal and unregulated fishing, climate change, and disease outbreaks. For example, overfishing reduces fish stocks, making ocean industries less sustainable and weakening the foundation of the blue economy. n nWhat is the G20’s ocean economy agenda? n nBefore taking on the G20 presidency, the South African government came up with policies to preserve life underwater. These include marine protection and governance services that are part of Operation Phakisa. This is a national plan for economic development in the water and oceans of South Africa. n nThe South African G20 presidency has brought some of this knowledge into the G20. The G20 already had an ocean focus—the Ocean 20 initiative started by Brazil, the G20 president in 2024. The Ocean 20 aims to achieve better collaboration across government, research, business and civil society. It has a strong focus on including communities in the blue economy, using new innovations and making sure that economic development in water and oceans is sustainable. n nSouth Africa’s G20 presidency now has to turn Ocean 20 into a reality. These are some steps it needs to take to promote a well-developed blue economy for South Africa and other G20 countries: n nInvestment in research, product commercialization, training and support. Funding is needed to develop blue economy innovation and technology advancement. n nPromoting and maintaining lifelong learning and re- and upskilling of people with ocean economy jobs. In both the government and private sector, researchers, educators and learners need to be retrained or receive more advanced training. This is especially important as the environment rapidly changes with artificial intelligence (AI) and automation advances in ocean economy industries. n nEnhancing productive collaboration between government, businesses, investors, communities and community-based organizations. This will promote coordinated blue economy development initiatives. The groups will be able to share resources and hold each other accountable. n nEncouraging more cooperation between businesses and governments. This is important to help countries work together on key ocean industries. Working together supports blue economy growth. n nA blue economy can’t be built by one government or group alone, or by focusing on just one industry. It needs cooperation between governments, global organizations, businesses, universities, non-governmental organizations and individuals, all working together to protect and use the ocean sustainably.