The future of the oceans is at stake: Study identifies major barriers to sustainable marine environments
In a new study, a team of international researchers identifies a number of barriers that we must overcome if we are to secure the future of the oceans.
It isn’t every day that one’s article gets published in a leading international journal. Not even if you, as Professor Niels Vestergaard, have spent most of your working life researching resources, climate and economics.
That one of the articles has just been published in the highly esteemed journal Nature Communications therefore testifies to the enormous relevance of the study.
In the study, Niels Vestergaard, together with international researchers, investigated how we can rectify the enormous human pressure on the oceans of the world.
Reorganisation of activities
It is especially human marine activities that endanger the health of the oceans. According to Niels Vestergaard, we must therefore reorganise our activities and utilise the resources of the oceans in a more sustainable way:
"It’s about replacing unsustainable activities with sustainable activities," he explains, continuing:
About the study
- The study is part of a large, international collaboration between leaders from around the world, called the ‘High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy’. The collaboration includes an expert group of researchers and departments that cover areas within economics, biology, ecology, biochemistry, geology, ocean physics, management, politics and social sciences.
- Niels Vestergaard is the only Danish researcher associated with the expert group. The role of the expert group has been to prepare a series of articles to advise the UN and the world leaders on how it is possible to meet goal no. 14, 'Life below water’, in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals together.
- Financing a sustainable ocean economy is one of these articles and deals with financing a sustainable ocean economy. The study is headed by Professor Dr. Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia. You can read the article here.
"It will give a small financial return in the places where we shut down activities, but it will give a different and great return in those places where we open up new ones. Investing in sustainable activities will lead to an overall profit in the future."
A common path
This may sound perfectly simple, but the area is extremely complex, the Danish professor points out.
The oceans constitute one enormous ecosystem that transcends national borders. Therefore, there are many players with different interests involved, and this makes a joint effort more complicated.
"What activities should we shut down? Who is responsible? Who is going to pay? Those are some of the big questions," says Niels Vestergaard.
He explains that the strategies of the world’s leaders and organisations have so far been very fragmented, which, among other things, has provided an economic incentive to act alone.
Therefore, there is a need for an overall, holistic approach to sustainability in the oceans that cuts across players and interests.
"It is crucial that we find a way to manage the oceans together. This study is an attempt to find a way together."
Financing is a barrier
The title of the recently published article is Financing a sustainable ocean economy, and as the title indicates, sustainable economic development is a prerequisite for securing the future of the oceans.
A change from unsustainable to sustainable activities requires extensive investments, but according to the study, a number of barriers make these investments difficult.
One of these barriers is our inability to visualise and develop projects that are attractive to investors.
”If we want people to invest, we need to make it clear what returns their investments will yield
"If we want people to invest, we need to make it clear what returns their investments will yield," explains Niels Vestergaard.
This requires, among other things, monitoring of various initiatives, collection of data, and making of statements about how much it will cost if we do not switch to sustainable activities. Something that we are in need of today.
"For instance, the coral reefs of the oceans protect against storms, so how much will it cost if we do not re-establish the coral reefs? This is important information, but it is not something we spend a lot of resources on calculating."
An ethical obligation
As part of the study’s expert group, Niels Vestergaard’s role is now completed. Together with the rest of the researchers, he has submitted a number of articles which, in his words, ‘have given substance to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal no. 14 about life below water.’
By, among other things, pointing to extensive barriers in relation to the financing of sustainable oceans, the seeds have now been sown for the nations and organisations of the world, such as the UN and the EU, to use this knowledge to develop future common strategies.
Although Niels Vestergaard is an economist and emphasises that more sustainable activities in the oceans will, in the long run, lead to a better economy, he also highlights another aspect of the matter, namely ethics. Because, as he says:
"Morally and ethically, and according to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it is important that we can pass on the oceans in good condition to future generations. Why should our generation have the right to exploit the oceans in an unsustainable way?"
You can read the article Financing a sustainable ocean economy here
Meet the researcher
Niels Vestergaard is a professor at the Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics and researches the connections between resources, climate and economics. He has more than twenty years of experience as a researcher in his field and has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals.