Thematic Network on Blue Economy and the Arctic (BlueArctic)

Over the past two decades, the ‘blue economy’ has increasingly captured the increased awareness of the role of the oceans in national economies. Moreover, it has also slowly but steadily emerged as a concept that captures the goals of sustaining economic development opportunities emerging from the oceans’ wealth while also aiming to maintain ocean ecosystem health. As such, the term ‘blue economy’ aims to combine the multifaceted economic, environmental and social importance of the oceans along five key components: ecosystem resilience, economic sustainability, community engagement, institutional integration and technical capacity. However, many interpretations of the blue economy are more an aspiration than a blueprint with the term predominantly being used as a catchy buzzword by a variety of actors for a variety of purposes. Moreover, the commonly used ‘win-win-win’ rhetoric of blue growth – emphasizing gains for coastal communities, the environment and investors at once – undermines progressive and transformative solutions to the disadvantage of small-scale users, with blue growth agendas (often) only producing environmental and social injustices rather than also minimizing environmental and social harms. Given this inherent conceptual ambiguity and confusion over its social and environmental sustainability, one wonders how the evolution of a newly envisioned management and governance concept – the blue economy – can serve as an internationally recognised blueprint for the sustainable development of our oceans. How can the blue economy retain its alleged credibility that is currently undermined by contradictions between economic growth and capital accumulation on the one hand, and narratives on environmental and social sustainability on the other?

To answer such fundamental questions, we need to know more about the various blue steps taken, identify how different blue initiatives conceptually addresses the tense bioeconomic relations of protection, growth and equity, and assess how/if the oceans are (able to) contributing to national economies in a sustainable way, or if rapid and unchecked blue growth is only to produce numerous environmental and social injustices. This is particularly relevant in and for the Arctic.

With rapid changes underway across the circumpolar north, questions are being asked both about the sustainability and profitability of northern economic ventures and about conditions for local and regional development. As such, discussions on the blue economy – both from a conceptual and an ocean management perspective – have also found their way into northern climes. The Arctic is where we observe the strongest impacts of climate change. The region is rich in resources, but its unique ecosystem is fragile. As such, today’s Arctic political agenda concerns how to govern best emerging disputes between the various industries and stakeholders involved. An interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder dialogue on the region’s blue economy could be an important tool contributing to finding the most suitable approaches to best manage future ocean-related economic activities.

Through international cooperation in education, research, and outreach, the Thematic Network (TN) on the Blue Economy and the Arctic (TN BlueArctic) will contribute to capacity-building in the High North and promote sustainable approaches to Arctic blue economy growth.

Goals

Our Thematic Network (TN) on the Blue Economy and the Arctic (TN BlueArctic) aims to uncover the conceptual and practical application of the ‘blue economy’, in particular, its regional sidekick: the circumpolar ‘blue economy’. Our TN will provide impetus to global blue economy discussions and related efforts to develop the blue economy as a novel concept for the sustainable governance and management of the world’s oceans. As such, we aim to provide a better understanding of what the Arctic blue economy actually is and how the blue Arctic could serve as a potential blueprint for the sustainable development of our global oceans.

Research and education play critical roles in developing and implementing sustainable practices and technologies that enable the growth of the blue economy. We need research to understand the oceans’ ecosystems and the potential impacts of economic activities on the environment, as well as to develop new models for blue growth and inclusive blue governance. As such, interdisciplinary, cross-regional education is essential to train future generations of responsible Arctic professionals that do not only use the blue economy as a buzzword / catchphrase but rather question the ambiguity of its ‘win-win-win’ rhetoric when implementing so-called blue ideas and policies.

Activities

Development of BlueArctic arenas.

  • Establishment of a Blue Arctic side-event of the High North Dialogue conference in Bodø, Norway - annually.
  • Include Arctic Blue Economy as part of the program of the High North Dialogue in Bodø, Norway –annually.
  • Regular side-events on Arctic Blue Economy/Blue Growth on the main Arctic arenas such as Arctic Frontiers, Arctic Circle, etc.

BlueArctic research and education.

  • Initiation of research applications on the issues of the Blue Economy with TN participants as partners in the proposal.
  • Publication of joint research papers, co-authored by TN participants.
  • Publication of a book on the Blue Economy and the Arctic.
  • Elaboration of a joint course/educational program on the Blue Economy and the Arctic.

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Publications

TN BlueArctic builds on the Arctic2030-projects AlaskaNor and ArcBlue assessing blue economic collaboration potentials between Alaska, North Norway, and Greenland. Therefore projects’ deliverables in terms of reports and publications are highly relevant for the network. The reports can be found here: https://alaskanor.com/reports.

Other Information

More information and past activities can be found here.