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This Blue Pacific Ocean 2021 Report (BPOR) is indeed a first of its kind. While sectoral approaches to reporting on development and implementation in the various areas of ocean governance has been the norm, the BPOR is unique in the sense that it is the first attempt at the regional level to compile a comprehensive, multi-facetted, cross-cutting and holistic review and stock take of the state of affairs of ocean governance in the region, in the contemporary period.

In this report the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors in the ocean economy, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. We look at the role of banks and investors in financing the transition towards clean, low carbon technologies, as well as opportunities in data and analytics. We examine solutions to marine plastic pollution from source to sea, and the ocean’s potential to remove carbon from the atmosphere and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The term Blue Economy has become increasingly used over the past decade, despite its lack of definition, with a multitude of agents and agencies finding the name acceptable to frame their ‘economy’ strategies, regardless of the hue. There are also many sceptics, given the long succession of let-downs since the 1980s such as when a similarly attractive term, sustainable development, was coined and supposed to meet economic, social and environmental objectives but in practice mainly focused on the economy at the expense of the environment.

The term “green growth” and its sister concepts, “blue‐ green growth,” the “green economy,” and the “blue‐ green economy,” have gained considerable traction in the Pacific island region in a short space of time. Pacific island governments, regional organisations, and development agencies all use the terms, which originate outside of the Pacific. What (and who) has driven the adoption of green growth terminology within the region? How has its usage in the region mirrored international usage?