PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Record sargassum blooms across the Atlantic are forcing governments to confront a growing challenge at the intersection of environmental resilience, tourism and economic development. Nowhere is that more visible than along Mexico’s Caribbean coastline, where authorities are mounting one of the region’s largest cleanup and
Tripoli — In a country long defined by oil, a new agreement between Libya’s Ministry of Marine Resources and the United Nations Development Programme signals a strategic pivot: toward the sea, and toward a more diversified economic future. The memorandum of understanding, signed this week, aims to advance Libya’s “blue
Oman floating factory operations have formally begun with the launch of a high-tech vessel designed to catch, process, and freeze fish directly at sea, marking a shift in how the Sultanate develops its fisheries sector under Oman Vision 2040. The project, led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water
Tanzania has secured approval from the Global Environment Facility for a US$6 million initiative aimed at safeguarding some of the country’s most critical coastal and marine ecosystems, advancing a national effort to link climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and inclusive blue economy growth. The project targets the Tanga–Pemba Seascape, a stretch
Marine resources seen as engine for growth, but governance, investment, and cooperation will determine outcomes At dawn in coastal West Africa, the shoreline tells two stories. Fishing communities pull in ever smaller catches, their livelihoods eroded by overfishing, rising seas, and shifting ecosystems. At the same time, the same waters
EU-backed initiative aims to test pilot projects across 13 countries as coastal pressures mount Fishing boats still line the harbors from Nouakchott to Monrovia, but the catch is thinner, the storms harsher, and the coastline more fragile each year. For millions in West Africa, the ocean is both lifeline and
Key Impact Points: UN Calls on Financial Sector to Back Ocean Health The ocean remains severely underfinanced despite being critical to the global economy, climate stability, and biodiversity. At the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), UNEP FI and partners issued a call to action for financial institutions to align capital
by Marisa Drew (chief sustainability officer at Standard Chartered) Despite carrying 80% of the world’s trade, absorbing 30% of its carbon-dioxide emissions and providing food security for almost 3 billion people, the global “blue economy” (oceans and waterways) is suffering from acute underinvestment, and nowhere more so than in Africa.
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” — Sir David Attenborough At 99 years old, Sir
Key Impact Points: SWEN Capital Partners Scales Ocean Impact Strategy with Second Blue Ocean Fund SWEN Capital Partners has raised €160 million in the first close of SWEN Blue Ocean 2, the world’s largest ocean-focused impact venture fund. With a €300 million target, the fund will back startups advancing technologies
