Blue economy is a term relating to the exploitation, preservation, and regeneration of the marine environment. According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improve livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.”
Vietnam possesses huge potential to develop the blue economy. Vietnam is a coastal country, with a coastline of more than 3,260 kilometers. The blue economy is an important driving force and premise for socio-economic development, environmental protection, defense and security assurance, foreign affairs, and international cooperation. Vietnam's coastal provinces and cities account for more than 50% of the country's population, and most laborers work in sea-related occupations; The contribution of 28 coastal provinces and cities to the national GDP has now exceeded 60%.
Vietnam has the advantage of sea transportation since it is close to international and regional maritime routes. Vietnam's sea is located in an area with high economic development and is a bridge between many economic and political powers in the world. These are favorable conditions for Vietnam to develop the maritime industry, shipbuilding industry, and logistics, especially when there are 114 estuaries and 52 deep-water bays along the central coast (pools, bays, and lagoons account for 60% of the time. length of coastline), more than 100 locations can build large seaports. On the other hand, the location is convenient for traffic and the closed bays and pools have great depth, and large space in the coastal area and on the coast, which is very convenient for the seaport and the development of coastal economic zones.
With its geographical location and favorable conditions, blue economy development has become an indispensable need throughout the development process of Vietnam.
The blue economy is recognized as an important growth driver of Vietnam’s economy. By 2030, it is expected that Vietnam will make successful and breakthrough development of blue economy sectors in the order of priority as follow:
The recently launched “Blue economy scenarios for Vietnam” report made suggestions to improve the blue economy in Vietnam, in all its sectors.
For marine renewable energy, the report recommends that Vietnam rapidly expand marine renewable energy sources to 10,000 MW installed by 2030. Of which, about 4,500 MW of nearshore wind (mainly in the Mekong Delta) and 5,500 MW of offshore wind, mainly in the Southern Central region.
The report also recommends promoting energy efficiency in oil and gas production activities, enhancing environmental protection, and participating in the emerging marine renewable energy production sector.
For the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, the report recommends reducing fishing to maximally sustainable levels (approximately 2.7 million tonnes per year) through reductions in fishing by 2% per year, maintaining aquaculture area; and improving management to safe yield, etc.
For the tourism sector, the report recommends boosting the growth of international visitors by 8-10%/year and domestic visitors by 5-6%/year by 2030; incorporate the effects of climate change, including sea-level rise) into tourism planning.
In addition, the report recommends increasing ocean freight by 20.6% by 2030, bringing cargo volume to 787 million tons and expanding domestic shipping to 289 million tons.
Despite being assessed as a major growth driver of the economy, Vietnam’s blue economy in the past few years has not developed well.
The scale of the marine economy is still modest, and development is not commensurate with its potential. The industry structure is not reasonable. A system of marine scientific and technological research facilities, training human resources for the marine economy. The marine monitoring, forecasting, and warning facilities, marine disaster, and search and rescue centers in coastal areas are still small, with rudimentary equipment and weak capacity. The marine environment changes in a bad direction. Marine biodiversity and aquatic resources are seriously decreasing, and unsustainable.
The above weaknesses stem from many causes, including objective causes from extreme developments in global climate change, but mainly from subjective reasons. The organization and management apparatus for sustainable development of the marine economy is still inadequate; resources to implement the guidelines, solutions, and breakthroughs in the Resolution have not been appropriately allocated; New and advanced marine management methods are still slow to be applied.
Compiled by VietnamCredit
