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4. The economic bias of marine pollution: a shared responsibility for all Traditional maritime industries will be ecosystem services. Of the world’s coun-
increasingly influenced by climate change, tries, however, 20% are at risk of their
The ocean is governed by legal struc- mining the economic viability of the econ- as changes in temperature, ocean acidity ecosystems collapsing due to the decline
tures at the international, national, state, omy of the sea. In addition to the damage and sea level rise affect the movements of in biodiversity and related beneficial ser-
and local levels and, similarly, regulations to the environment and human health, the fish stocks, opening up new trade routes vices. This strong economic dependence
on marine pollution are enacted. Sever- negative impacts resulting from the release and affecting port structures, thus creat- on natural resources highlights the funda-
al multilateral and bilateral treaties are in of plastic waste into the ocean, for example, ing new destinations and tourist attrac- mental character of sustainable develop-
force, in addition to other agreements for are reflected in the world economy. It is esti- tions, while others are destroyed. It is ment and conservation for the long-term
fisheries management, maritime transport, mated that about 4.8 to 12.7 million metric noteworthy that the destruction of the sustainability of world economies (SWISS
protection of biodiversity and pollution tons of plastic were released into the ocean Aral Sea, for example, caused economic RE INSTITUTE, Op. Cit.).
(WEIS, Op. Cit., p.16). from terrestrial sources in 2010 alone, and collapse and mass migration from the sur- In terms of loss valuation, it is possible
The interactions of society, the economy forecasts regarding the flow of plastics into rounding coastal area, which provides an to estimate that a decline of just 1% to
and the environment exert an important in- the marine environment point to its increase extreme view of how the collapse of an 5% in the provision of marine ecosystem
fluence on marine ecosystems through their over the years (BEAUMONT, 2019). ecosystem can affect the local economy services is equivalent to an annual loss of
dynamics and their broader biogeochemical Plastic waste, specifically, has the poten- (SWISS RE INSTITUTE, 2022). 500 to 2,500 billion dollars in the value
cycle. This is because ecosystem services are tial to work together with other stressors, Conjectures about the reduction of of benefits derived from these services.
dependent on each other and exhibit com- such as climate change and the overex- terrestrial ecosystem services due to an- Given that this figure only includes the
plex interactions that generate trade-offs in ploitation of marine resources, in ways that thropogenic disturbances point to a de- impacts of marine natural capital, the
the delivery of one ecosystem service versus cause much greater damage than if they cline of 11% to 28% of them (BEAU- total economic cost is likely to be much
the delivery of others. For the ocean econ- occurred in isolation. Habitat changes in MONT, Op. Cit.). Understanding the higher (BEAUMONT, Op. Cit.). By com-
omy, this is relevant because these inter- key coastal ecosystems caused by the di- concept of ecosystem services is, thus, parison, the global plastics market in
actions indirectly determine the viability of rect impacts of marine litter and plastics essential for it to be possible to assimi- 2020 was estimated to be around $580
ocean-based industries (OECD, 2016). affect local food production and damage late the magnitude of the economic billion, which is less than the monetary
According to the Organization for Eco- coastal structures, leading to far-reaching problem that involves marine plastic pol- value of marine natural capital losses per
nomic Co-operation and Development and unpredictable consequences, includ- lution, consequently, affecting all sectors year. (UNEP, Op. Cit.).
(OECD), the ocean can be considered as ing loss of resilience to extreme events of society. Ecosystem services, or environ- This calculation of the economic costs
the new economic frontier. These maritime and climate change in coastal communi- mental services, can be defined as flows per ton of plastic in the ocean is funda-
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spaces have great potential for growth, ties (UNEP, 2021). from natural capital stocks that combine mental for future global negotiations in
employment, and innovation. Therefore, The productivity, viability, profitability with human services capital to provide order to transform the way plastics are
it is already considered an environment and safety of the fisheries and aquaculture well-being to populations. Such services designed, produced, used, reused and re-
of crucial importance to face many of the industry are highly vulnerable to the impact can be classified into four categories: cul- processed, bearing in mind that the ocean
challenges that the world has faced and of plastic deposited in the ocean, especially tural services (aesthetic and recreational economy is essential for the future of hu-
will face in the coming decades, especially when coupled with broader factors includ- elements); regulation (whether climate, man prosperity, and which is an essential
post-Covid-19, such as: food security, cli- ing climate change and overfishing. The floods, pests, and water purification); sup- source of food, energy, minerals, health
mate change, energy production, supply of high dependence on seafood for nutrition port (nutrient cycling and soil formation); and leisure on which hundreds of millions
natural resources, in addition to the prog- leaves the well-being of a significant pro- and provision (supply of food, fresh water, of people depend on (OECD, 2017).
ress of medicine (OECD, 2017). portion of the world’s population extremely fiber, and fuel) (NUSDEO, 2016). Marine pollution, therefore, as an event
Human activities, however, have the po- susceptible to any changes in the quanti- Over half of the global GDP – that is, whose consequences are perceived in a
tential to intervene indirectly in the func- ty, quality, and safety of this food source 55%, equivalent to US$41.7 trillion – de- joint and non-segmented way, mainly due
tioning of marine ecosystems, thus under- (BEAUMONT, Op. Cit.). pends on high-functioning biodiversity and to its transboundary nature, enters the

284 BLUE ECONOMY Marine pollution as everyone’s responsibility 285