Sectoral Brief: Blue Economy

As part of the EU-funded GoNaturePositive! project, five sectoral briefs were developed to explore how key economic sectors can contribute to a nature-positive economy. Covering agri-food systems, built environment, forestry, tourism, and the blue economy, these concise documents present the challenges, opportunities, and policy recommendations needed to transform these sectors – helping balance economic activity with ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation. The briefs are designed to guide upcoming project activities, including setting priorities, tackling policy barriers, and supporting targeted actions at project pilot sites.

This brief - focusing on the blue economy - highlights that this sector contributes around 2% to the EU economy, while also causing habitat destruction and biodiversity loss from seabed trawling, overexploitation, and unsustainable tourism. Promising nature-positive strategies include blue carbon farming, marine ecosystem restoration, regenerative aquaculture, and circular bio-based solutions. To achieve widespread uptake, biodiversity-positive incentives must be embedded in maritime policy, financing instruments, and industrial strategies to help redirect investments toward regenerative, low-carbon marine solutions.