A new era for ocean governance and growth

Thank you.

Although some ocean issues, such as deep sea mining, are increasingly making headlines, the full value and potential of the ocean still remains difficult to grasp.

One useful way of understanding is important is through the ecosystem services framework.

First, there are regulating services.

The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the Earth's climate and temperature, with marine currents redistributing heat around the planet.

In fact, the ocean has absorbed around 90% of the excess heat trapped in the Earth's system by human activity, acting as a crucial buffer against climate change.

Then, there are supporting services.

which end up in life in the ocean itself, and by extension, life on land.

A simple but essential example is plankton, which form the basis of the marine food system.

The ocean also provides cultural services, which are sometimes less visible in economic discussion, but are deeply embedded in society and tradition around the world.

In Brazil and in Rio de Janeiro, New Jersey is closely connected to the sea, with many people making offerings to Lemoncha, the goddess of the sea.

Finally, there are provisioning services.

The ocean provides food, of course, but also a wide range of resources using medicine, fertilizers, and cosmetics.

Actually, the first marine derived medicine was brought to market more than 50 years ago.

And today, marine genetic resources is a growing field of research, particularly in the area of cancer treatment and antibacterial innovation.

Taken together, The examples show that the ocean is not only an environment asset, but also a social, cultural and economic one.

And because its resources and functions are both valuable and so vast, the question on how we govern the ocean and how we organise economic activity around it needs to be at the heart of the conversation.

Thanks, Emma-Louise.

And Jane, building on that, what are the risks of continuing to treat ocean governance and the ocean economy as separate conversations?

I think the risk is that we create an artificial divide between environmental protection and economic development when, in reality, the ocean economy depends on healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems, as Emma-Louise just touched on.

Without effective governance, we increase risks not only to biodiversity, but also to food security, livelihoods, investment stability, and long-term economic resilience.

We also risk making short-term economic decisions that ultimately undermine the sustainability and productivity of the ocean

over the long term.