From plastics and nutrient pollution to overfishing to climate change, two-thirds of the global ocean is considered to have been negatively impacted by human activities. To recover and benefit from the broad range of ecosystem services the ocean provides to humanity, from food security to nutrient cycling to climate moderation, we need to move to ecosystem-based management of marine ecosystems that are integrated, cross-sectoral, and highly participatory.  Area-based management approaches such as Marine Spatial Planning, Integrated Coastal Management, and the Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) approach have all shown promise in achieving these objectives. In its recently completed work, leaders from 14 countries on the High-Level Panel on a Sustainable Blue Economy committed to sustainably manage 100 percent of their national waters by 2025. This High-Level Panel called upon other nations to match their ambition towards having all of the world’s ocean Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) under sustainable management by 2030.

There is now wide evidence that the establishment and effective management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) plays a vital role in protecting and restoring marine ecosystems of all types.  Studies have demonstrated that properly managed MPAs can increase species diversity, fish size, density and overall biomass.  MPAs in certain types of ecosystems, such as seagrass and mangroves, can provide important ‘blue carbon’ sinks, reduce climate change impacts, and improve ocean health.  MPAs help local economies by preserving existing jobs and creating new ones such as ecotourism. And, by promoting sustainable use of harvested marine resources, MPAs can ensure long-term food security and improved economic opportunity for local populations. According to the MPA Atlas, about 6.1% of ocean area within national jurisdictions (EEZs) and 0.8 percent of the high seas has implemented fully/highly protected areas.  While positive, many scientists agree that overall protection levels as high as 30 percent will be required, underscoring the need for continued progress on Marine Protected Areas.

The Blue Economy concept is increasingly recognized as an opportunity for coastal communities and nations to realize enhanced social and economic benefits from the sustainable utilization of their ocean and coastal resources. From Southeast Asia to most of the world’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the blue economy is often already a significant component of national economic activity. Towards realizing their blue economy ambitions, many countries are now preparing national blue economy assessments/diagnostics, strategies and plans. A key challenge to enhancing a country’s blue economy is the identification of new and additional areas

While by no means exhaustive, some examples of the types of innovations that could be considered for the third OIC Call include:

• Innovations that facilitate ocean data collection, processing and integration to help lower costs and accelerate progress on Marine Spatial Planning and other areas-based management processes (including MPAs);
• Innovations that help to maximize the engagement of relevant stakeholder groups in marine and coastal area-based management processes;
• Innovations (such as ecosystem modeling) that strengthen the application of ecosystem-based approaches in area-based management;
• Innovations that improve the effectiveness, and reduce the cost, of monitoring and enforcement in Marine Protected Areas;
• Technology, policy, regulatory, economic, or financial innovations that reduce stress on MPAs;
• General innovations that improve overall management effectiveness in MPAs;
• Technology innovations with viable business models that advance the ‘new and additional’ blue economy in sectors such as ocean-derived energy, marine genetic resources, zero/low carbon shipping, blue carbon, etc.;
• Innovations that improve the accuracy of blue carbon sequestration measurements towards enhancing the access of blue carbon initiatives to formal and voluntary carbon markets;
• Innovations that help to ‘de-risk’ private investment in selected new and additional sustainable ocean use areas; and
• Innovative approaches to engaging local communities and/or the private sector in the development and implementation of blue economy solutions.