Sustainable blue economy: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The term ‘blue economy’, first introduced in 2010, is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, jobs, ocean health, and to improve livelihoods. However, a sustainable blue economy faces various challenges in the form of global warming, ocean acidification, and lack of knowledge about the ocean; for example, 95% of the sea is still unexplored, making it more important to understand the blue economy and implement it on a global scale. Other challenges include harmful algal blooms (HABs), invasive species, coral bleaching, and thermohaline circulation. This review discusses various aspects of the blue economy like food, value-added products, offshore energy, oxygen source, mining, fisheries, carbon sequestration, and cloud seeding. The future aspects of blue economy, like sustainability, effective policies, and reducing carbon footprints and microplastics are also explored here.