The blue economy refers to the sustainable use of ocean and marine resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and ocean ecosystem health.

It includes all economic activities connected to the ocean, seas, and coasts—but with a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability, social equity, and long-term economic viability. It includes fishing, shipping, tourism, renewable energy, and marine biotechnology, and generates trillions of dollars annually.

More than 40 million people are directly employed in ocean-related industries. Coastal and small-scale fisheries support the livelihoods of millions of families around the world, and over 3 billion people rely on seafood as a primary source of protein.

The ocean is a frontier for biotechnology and innovation, offering solutions for sustainability and health. Marine organisms have led to the development of life-saving medicines, including treatments for cancer, pain, and infections.

The ocean also influences human culture. It shapes the cultures, traditions, and spirituality of many coastal and Indigenous communities, and offers inspiration, recreation, and mental well-being for people worldwide.
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#OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #OneOceanOnePlanet #OceanAndHumanHealth #SustainableOcean #BluePlanet #OceanStewardship #Interconnected #LifeUnderWater #SDG14 #ProtectOurOcean #OceanEducation #WeAreOcean

The ocean remains largely unexplored—with more than 80% of it still unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. We know more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about the deep sea. Beneath the waves lies a vast, hidden world filled with towering underwater mountains, deep trenches, and potentially millions of unknown species.
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#OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #OneOceanOnePlanet #OceanAndHumanHealth #SustainableOcean #BluePlanet #OceanStewardship #Interconnected #LifeUnderWater #SDG14 #ProtectOurOcean #OceanEducation #WeAreOcean

Without the ocean, life on Earth as we know it wouldn’t exist.
The ocean doesn’t just support life—it makes Earth habitable.
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The ocean plays a role in climate control, oxygen production, driving the water cycle, transporting nutrients and is an important carbon sink.
Protecting our oceans is about protecting the very systems that make Earth a place we can call home.

#OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #OneOceanOnePlanet #BluePlanet #EarthSystems #ClimateAction #ProtectOurOcean #SustainableFuture #NatureIsLife #OceanScience #HabitableEarth #OceanEducation

The ocean interacts with our atmosphere to influence weather and climate - temperature, winds, evaporation, rainfall, storms, cloud cover...
The ocean absorbs, stores, and distributes solar energy. Heat is transferred around the globe through the Global Conveyor Belt. This warms coastal regions far from the tropics, while cool ocean currents regulate warmer temperatures. Similarly global climate patterns can be influenced by currents like El Nino and La Nina.
Evaporation from the ocean fuels cloud formation, storms, and rainfall. While storms and cyclones gather strength from warm ocean waters. Water vapor from the sea may travel and result in rain falling inland.
The ocean regulates global climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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#OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #ClimateAction #OneOceanOnePlanet #BluePlanet #WeatherAndClimate #ClimateScience #OceanMatters #ProtectWhatProtectsUs #SustainableFuture #EarthSystemScience #OceanEducation

Today is World Habitat Day.

This is an opportunity to think about the many habitats and microhabitats in our marine environments. These important habitats perform important ecogical functions that are intrinsically important, but also support our culture, wellbeing, livelihoods and economy.

Habitats found beneath the waves and in our intertidal zones are at risk from overfishing, plastic pollution, reclamation and the effects of our changing climate.

Sustainable and innovative practices, laws and policies which protect habitats and biodiversity, ecosystem restoration initiatives and blue carbon solutions are opportunities to ensure that habitats are protected and habitat diversity is secured into the future.
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#OceanLiteracy #unoceandecade #WorldHabitatDay

The ocean is a powerful force that has shaped our planet over time.

Waves and currents have carved coastlines, built islands, shaped underwater mountain ranges and canyons. The location of seas have changed over millions of years, and as a result the ocean and moving water have shaped landforms that are found inland far from the sea.
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Tiny organisms in the ocean like coral polyps build vast limestone structures that form the substrate for coral reefs. Some marine organisms like polycheate worms and shrimp burrow, feed and excrete and can change the composition of sediment.

#OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #OneOceanOnePlanet #BluePlanet #EarthScience #ClimateAction #ProtectOurOcean #NatureIsPowerful #OceanEducation #MarineLife #GeologyMeetsBiology #InterconnectedEarth

We learn about the oceans as separate entities - the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern and the Arctic, but they are all connected. This one giant entity that is the ocean influences our climate, connects our continents and supports a plethora a life forms. Understanding the ocean as an interconnected system is integral to managing and protecting it.
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#OneOcean #OceanLiteracy #UNOceanDecade #BluePlanet #ClimateAction #ProtectOurOceans #OceanEducation #EarthIsBlue #InterconnectedOceans #sustainableseastrust #blueschools

Happy World Rivers Day!

Your local creek or river is a great location to undertake local fieldwork with students with limited cost and organisation. Undertake water testing, estimate stream flow and depth, explore how topography and vegetation impact on water flow, how river bed sediment and sediment disturbance impacts on water clarity and explore human impacts on the river.

Engage students in local initiatives and active citizenship to care for their waterways.
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#worldriversday #teaching #fieldwork

En-ROADS is a climate change simulation that allows users to explore how different policies and actions could address temperature increase by 2100. It has been designed by Climate Interactive, the MIT Sloan School of Management’s System Dynamics Group and Sustainability Initiative, and Ventana Systems. 

For an introduction and example of how to use the program visit my post on the Powerful Geography Author's Blog which provides some introductory lesson activities to be used with students. 

En-ROADs can be accessed here:
https://www.climateinteractive.org/en-roads/

Figure 1: The En-ROADS simulator provides a user friendly interface that allows students to easily access basic functionality.

Figure 2: In the example above, the levels of carbon dioxide removal for both Nature-based removal and Technological removal have been increased to the highest level. This results in an overall decline in Temperature increase by 2100 by 1% (increase is at 3.2 degrees celsius rather than 3.3).

Exploring Climate Change and Impacts on our Oceans

The En-ROADS Climate Change simulation allows users to explore the impacts of climate change on a range of indicators with current temperature increase projections. It also allows users to explore the impact of implementing policy changes on these indicators. The ocean-related indicators in the simulation include: sea level rise, a sea level rise flood risk map, population exposed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, probability of ice-free arctic summer, loss in ocean life from warming.

​Figure 3: The Flood Risk map demonstrating sea level rise under various scenarios can be viewed at the global scale or zoomed in to view specific locations, e.g. Sydney Harbour.

​Figure 4 & 5: En-ROADS users can use the sliders to change policies to be implemented to address climate change. In the examples shown above, the selected policies resulted in a reduction in temperature increase as a result of climate change from 3.3 to 2.7 degrees celsius. It also shows a reduction in the level of sea level rise. These examples also show that a range of other data can be displayed, e.g. the impact of policies on Global Population.

Figure 6: The En-ROADs simulation can display information about the global population exposed to sea level rise, based on policies selected in the simulation.

Figure 7: In the examples shown above, the selected policies resulted in a reduction in temperature increase as a result of climate change from 3.3 to 2.8 degrees celsius. It also shows a reduction in probability of ice-free Arctic Summer in 2100.

En-ROADs is a powerful tool to allow users to explore the impact of climate change on our oceans, and to explore a range of policies that can be implemented to reduce its impacts. 

Lesson Activity:
Students explore a range of climate change policies and strategies that can be address to mitigate the ocean-related impacts of climate change. 

1. Experiment with the sliders on the main page of the En-ROADS climate interactive. Experiment with the climate change policies and explore how these strategies impact on sea level rise, population exposed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, probability of ice-free arctic summer, and loss in ocean life from warming.
2. Choose three policies that you believe will have a positive impact on ocean-related impacts from climate change. Provide a summary of the three policies, explain how they could be implemented in a practical sense, and how these policies might be communicated to the general population. 
3. Choose one example of a location that is susceptible to ocean-related climate change impacts. Explore the sea level rise flood risk map. Zoom in to your chosen location, and provide a 2-3 paragraph analysis of how your chosen policies will impact on this location. 

Syllabus Links:
The En-ROADs simulation provides an excellent, practical student-centred learning activity for students to engage in Study 3: Climate Change, of the Human-Environments Interaction for Preliminary Geography, or the Oceanography topic in Elective Geography.

Access a longer, published version of this article.