The ocean, which regulates climate and supports vital ecosystem services, is crucial to our Earth system and livelihoods. Yet, it is threatened by anthropogenic pressures and climate change. A healthy ocean that supports a sustainable ocean economy requires adequate financing vehicles that generate, invest, align, and account for financial capital to achieve sustained ocean health and governance. However, the current finance gap is large; we identify key barriers to financing a sustainable ocean economy and suggest how to mitigate them, to incentivize the kind of public and private investments needed for topnotch science and management in support of a sustainable ocean economy.
Citation: Sumaila, U.R., M. Walsh, K. Hoareau, A. Cox, L. Teh, P. Abdallah, W. Akpalu, Z. Anna, D. Benzaken, B. Crona, T. Fitzgerald, L. Heaps, I. Issifu, K. Karousakis, G.M. Lange, A. Leland, D. Miller, K. Sack, D. Shahnaz, T. Thiele, N. Vestergaard, N. Yagi and J. Zhang. 2021. Financing a sustainable ocean economy. Nature Communications 12(1):1-11.