THE need for the expansion of markets and materials under hyper-capitalism has seen a renewed interest in oceans and their exploitation. The push for ocean market expansion is also happening hand in glove with the securitisation of ocean governance. Global powers including developed countries and transnational corporations, backed up by multilateral financial institutions, are all competing to obtain and secure access to a new frontier of maritime resources.
Framing this race for exploitation as the ‘sustainable blue economy’1 and ‘blue growth’ offers a perfect cover to justify their interests in terms of gaining food security, expanding carbon emissions, and obtaining minerals for ‘green technology’ and renewable energy for the economies in the Global North and emerging powerful economies in the South, such as China.
Long seen as a vast blue void, the world’s oceans are now viewed as sites of enormous economic potential. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Trade and Environment Review 2023 report claims that the world's ocean economy is worth an estimated $3–6 trillion, with about three billion people relying on the ocean for food and income.
This article looks at how ocean exploitation and militarisation is taking place under the guise of development and the blue economy framework. It explores infrastructure financing, particularly deep-water ports, to secure access to ocean resources as well as provide safe harbour for military vessels. It also highlights how deep-sea mining (DSM) is being promoted as a saviour for a transition to a climate-friendly future despite its impacts on climate regulation, biodiversity and ecosystem destruction having the opposite effect. It details how the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies fails to achieve the sustainability issues it set out to address while letting those most responsible for overfishing and overcapacity off the hook. Finally, it examines the push for ‘blue carbon’, an expansion of the failed carbon market approach to climate action, in the context of the blue economy.