A prominent marine conservationist has voiced concern over the role that blue carbon credits can play in protecting the ocean, arguing that putting a price on ecosystems is a “slippery slope” that can lead to nature being undervalued and further degraded.
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Speaking at The Ocean Collective Summit in Singapore on Thursday, Fabien Cousteau, grandson of celebrated oceanographer Jacque Cousteau, said he was “trepidatious” about an economic system being built around intangible assets such as the avoided destruction of mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs.
Blue carbon credits – like any other type of carbon credit – enable companies to offset their climate pollution by buying a credit that represents a reduction or removal of emissions, for instance a mangrove replanting scheme or a seagrass meadow protection project.
The blue carbon market – which is projected to be worth US$190 billion by 2030 – needed standards that “respect the long-term viability of nature,” Cousteau said.
Verra, the world’s largest carbon credit certifier, currently has yet to develop standards for ocean-based carbon projects, although the verifier is working on establishing a blue carbon standard.
Cousteau said that a general problem with assigning economic value to natural ecosystems is that nature does not always meet investor expectations for a quick return on investment (ROI), and the pursuit of short-term economic gain is the cause of many of the problems that bedevil the ocean, such as overfishing and pollution.
Putting an economic value on saving an ecosystem is “a slippery slope,” he said, adding that there was a risk of marine resources being undervalued as actors seek to “take the lion’s share of a natural resource bank account.”
“The problem with that [putting an economic value on nature] is, there are no bailout loans [when a natural resource depletes]. Nature does not work like the Nasdaq. The management [of marine resources] has to be very different,” he told Eco-Business on the sidelines of the event.
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Nature does not work like the Nasdaq.
Fabien Cousteau, founder, Proteus Ocean Group and the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center
Cousteau used deep-sea mining as an example of where negative externalities are not being factored into an economic activity in the pursuit of “quick ROI”. Supporters of deep-sea mining argue that the ocean floor must be exploited to obtain the critical minerals needed to meet soaring demand for clean energy technologies.
“We know very little about the deep-sea ecoystem. The outcomes of mining are not being factored into the calculation. There is no mitigation plan [for deep-sea mining impacts],” he said, adding that damage to the seabed could be irreparable.
He said that the argument that deep-sea mining can be done sustainably – mining companies claim that polymetallic nodules can be scooped off the seabed with minimal disruption to the benthic ecosytem – was “reckless”.
“What gives us the idea that deep-sea mining can be sustainably and won’t have an impact?” he said.
Cousteau cited the recent discovery of “dark oxygen” produced by polymetallic nodules – research that has been disputed by pro-mining lobbyists – as a reason why more research is needed to determine the impact of deep-sea extraction. Countries and civic society groups are split on whether deep-sea mining should proceed. Regulations for commercial-scale extraction are still being negotiated.
Cousteau said deep-sea mining is “economically inefficient” and landfills presented humanity with a viable alternative to ocean-floor extraction for transition minerals such as nickel, cobalt and platinum. “Why aren’t we reusing the materials that we’ve already mined?” he said.
Though wary of the blue carbon market as a mechanism to protect ocean resources, Cousteau, who is raising funds for an underwater research station project called Proteus, acknowledged that marine conservation is critically underfinanced.
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that represents ocean protection – life below water – is the least funded of all the SDGs – and progress towards achieving SDG 14 has regressed as problems such as overfishing, pollution and ocean acidification have intensified.
While an estimated US$175 billion per year is needed to achieve SDG14 by 2030, only around US$10 billion a year is currently allocated to ocean conservation. According to the Asian Development Bank, while the blue economy contributes trillions to the global economy, only 1 per cent of global finance flows to the ocean-based economy.
Cousteau highlighted that funding for space exploration far exceeds the budget for ocean exploration, even though the ocean holds vast untapped potential for the discovery of life-saving medicines and other resources. NASA’s budget is 25 times larger than US federal spend on ocean research, and only 5 per cent of the ocean has been explored, he noted.
Cousteau’s comments came the day after marine scientists called on governments participating in the coming United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia next week to ramp up funding to research ocean acidification.
Key targets of COP16 include conserving 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030, and mobilising more capital from the private sector to fund marine protection. To date, governments have contributed 83 per cent of global nature finance.
Speaking at The Ocean Collective Summit, Dr Meri Rosich, chief executive of Singapore-based sustainability consultancy Oceanony, noted a 91 per cent increase in the number of startups focused on tackling marine sustainability issues since 2019, as the blue economy gains traction among investors.
Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most ocean-dependent regional economies, accounts for 16 per cent of ocean-driven startups in the pipeline, according to 2020 data, compared to market leader Europe (52 per cent) and the United States (20 per cent).
“Asean is accelerating [in developing ocean-based startups], but not fast enough. It should be part of the world where far more is invested in the future of the ocean,” Rosich said.
Asean economies derive 30 per cent of their income from ocean-based activities, with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia the region’s most ocean-dependent economies, she noted.
