What is the Great Blue Wall Initiative?

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Thomas Sberna, Regional Head, Marine and Coastal Resilience

• Overfishing, pollution, climate change and extractive industries are taking their toll on ocean ecosystems.
• Every single coral reef in the Western Indian Ocean is at risk of total collapse within the next 50 years, unless something is done to reverse it.
• The Great Blue Wall Challenge aims to support its coral reefs by protecting, restoring and conserving 2 million hectares of ocean and coastal ecosystems by 2030.

The ocean is a source of trillions of dollars’ worth of free economic activity. It regulates the climate, provides food for humans and a habitat for our food to grow. It also generates recreation and tourism opportunities and even sequesters carbon, all without our input, and all for free.

The economic value of these everyday tasks is staggering. One whale is worth $2 million alone for the role it plays in the carbon cycle, the money it generates through tourism and the nutrients it disperses that make fish more abundant.

But if we take too much, the ocean’s ability to provide us with these services diminishes and our role in keeping our environment stable rises, as do the costs.

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. It is home to 38% of the world’s coral reef species, but only about 7% of the region’s coastal and marine environment enjoys some form of protection.

Unfortunately, overfishing, pollution, climate change and extractive industries are taking their toll on key ecosystems, and every single coral reef in the WIO is at risk of total collapse within the next 50 years unless something is done to reverse it.

What is the Great Blue Wall initiative?

Africa’s Great Blue Wall initiative aims to establish a network of seascapes that benefit both people and nature more sustainably. The initiative sets out to help countries reach the following targets: protect 30% of the ocean by 2030; achieve net gain of critical blue ecosystems – such as mangroves, corals, seagrasses – by 2030; develop a regenerative blue economy and create millions of jobs by supporting local communities through funding, training and technical assistance.

Led by Western Indian Ocean countries, and supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a coalition of partners, the Great Blue Wall initiative has called upon innovators to help enable the regeneration of the WIO while creating economic opportunities for the 70 million people currently dependent on it.

Start-ups and social enterprises are being asked to help the sustainability and resilience of the WIO by submitting solutions that are beyond the ideation or prototype phase, in the following five focus areas: sustainable and equitable use of ocean resources; supporting activities; pollution (excluding plastic); seascape conservation and restoration; and protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems.

Submissions for the Great Blue Wall Challenge are already underway, with a deadline of 24 April 2023.

Winners will be announced on World Ocean Day on 8 June 2023.

The 5-10 winners will also feature in the African Climate Action Summit and the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), and will also be recognized as “top innovators” and invited to join the World Economic Forum’s Uplink Innovation Network Programme to help scale and advance the initiative.

What are we doing to protect our oceans?

More than half of the world’s oxygen is generated by our oceans, and they absorb 50 times more CO2 than our atmosphere. So it is important to protect them against overfishing, plastic and noise pollution, coastal development, poaching and unsustainable tourism.

Protecting our oceans is a key goal in the UN’s sustainable development goals.

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Our ocean covers 70% of the world’s surface and accounts for 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. We can’t have a healthy future without a healthy ocean – but it’s more vulnerable than ever because of climate change and pollution.

Tackling the grave threats to our ocean means working with leaders across sectors, from business to government to academia.

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, convenes the Friends of Ocean Action, a coalition of leaders working together to protect the seas. From a programme with the Indonesian government to cut plastic waste entering the sea to a global plan to track illegal fishing, the Friends are pushing for new solutions.

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Climate change is an inextricable part of the threat to our oceans, with rising temperatures and acidification disrupting fragile ecosystems. The Forum runs a number of initiatives to support the shift to a low-carbon economy, including hosting the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, who have cut emissions in their companies by 9%.

Is your organization interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.

And the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action recently launched an appeal – known as Ocean Action in 2023 – for continued ambitious progress to achieve ocean health through the suite of opportunities ahead.

A healthier, more sustainable and profitable ocean may still be within reach with initiatives like the Great Blue Wall and many other efforts that aim to protect our oceans and ensure they are utilized sustainably for generations to come.

• Overfishing, pollution, climate change and extractive industries are taking their toll on ocean ecosystems.
• Every single coral reef in the Western Indian Ocean is at risk of total collapse within the next 50 years, unless something is done to reverse it.
• The Great Blue Wall Challenge aims to support its coral reefs by protecting, restoring and conserving 2 million hectares of ocean and coastal ecosystems by 2030.

The ocean is a source of trillions of dollars’ worth of free economic activity. It regulates the climate, provides food for humans and a habitat for our food to grow. It also generates recreation and tourism opportunities and even sequesters carbon, all without our input, and all for free.

The economic value of these everyday tasks is staggering. One whale is worth $2 million alone for the role it plays in the carbon cycle, the money it generates through tourism and the nutrients it disperses that make fish more abundant.

But if we take too much, the ocean’s ability to provide us with these services diminishes and our role in keeping our environment stable rises, as do the costs.

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. It is home to 38% of the world’s coral reef species, but only about 7% of the region’s coastal and marine environment enjoys some form of protection.

Unfortunately, overfishing, pollution, climate change and extractive industries are taking their toll on key ecosystems, and every single coral reef in the WIO is at risk of total collapse within the next 50 years unless something is done to reverse it.

What is the Great Blue Wall initiative?

Africa’s Great Blue Wall initiative aims to establish a network of seascapes that benefit both people and nature more sustainably. The initiative sets out to help countries reach the following targets: protect 30% of the ocean by 2030; achieve net gain of critical blue ecosystems – such as mangroves, corals, seagrasses – by 2030; develop a regenerative blue economy and create millions of jobs by supporting local communities through funding, training and technical assistance.

Led by Western Indian Ocean countries, and supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a coalition of partners, the Great Blue Wall initiative has called upon innovators to help enable the regeneration of the WIO while creating economic opportunities for the 70 million people currently dependent on it.

Start-ups and social enterprises are being asked to help the sustainability and resilience of the WIO by submitting solutions that are beyond the ideation or prototype phase, in the following five focus areas: sustainable and equitable use of ocean resources; supporting activities; pollution (excluding plastic); seascape conservation and restoration; and protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems.

Submissions for the Great Blue Wall Challenge are already underway, with a deadline of 24 April 2023.

Winners will be announced on World Ocean Day on 8 June 2023.

The 5-10 winners will also feature in the African Climate Action Summit and the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), and will also be recognized as “top innovators” and invited to join the World Economic Forum’s Uplink Innovation Network Programme to help scale and advance the initiative.

What are we doing to protect our oceans?

More than half of the world’s oxygen is generated by our oceans, and they absorb 50 times more CO2 than our atmosphere. So it is important to protect them against overfishing, plastic and noise pollution, coastal development, poaching and unsustainable tourism.

Protecting our oceans is a key goal in the UN’s sustainable development goals.

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Our ocean covers 70% of the world’s surface and accounts for 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. We can’t have a healthy future without a healthy ocean – but it’s more vulnerable than ever because of climate change and pollution.

Tackling the grave threats to our ocean means working with leaders across sectors, from business to government to academia.

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, convenes the Friends of Ocean Action, a coalition of leaders working together to protect the seas. From a programme with the Indonesian government to cut plastic waste entering the sea to a global plan to track illegal fishing, the Friends are pushing for new solutions.

Climate change is an inextricable part of the threat to our oceans, with rising temperatures and acidification disrupting fragile ecosystems. The Forum runs a number of initiatives to support the shift to a low-carbon economy, including hosting the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, who have cut emissions in their companies by 9%.

Is your organization interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.

And the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action recently launched an appeal – known as Ocean Action in 2023 – for continued ambitious progress to achieve ocean health through the suite of opportunities ahead.

A healthier, more sustainable and profitable ocean may still be within reach with initiatives like the Great Blue Wall and many other efforts that aim to protect our oceans and ensure they are utilized sustainably for generations to come.