The Lisbon Workshop on Blue Natural Capital (BNC) took place on 3 and 4 October 2018 at the Lisbon Ocean Aquarium (Oceanário de Lisboa) in Portugal. It was hosted by the Oceano Azul Foundation (Fundação Oceano Azul) and prepared and chaired by R. Andreas Kraemer, Founder of Ecologic Institute and Director of the Foundation. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) published a summary.
The workshop started from the premise that the ocean will be in better shape when:
- All maritime activities (and relevant land-based activities) are environmentally sustainable, and
- All conservation and ecosystem management in the ocean is economically sustainable.
Obviously, neither is the case today, and the workshop participants sought to find solutions by applying the concept of Blue Natural Capital (BNC), i.e. the natural capital in the ocean. The workshop was attended by approximately 30 participants, including academics, economists, lawyers, conservationists, civil society, foundations, and investors. The workshop gathered inputs on the state of the art on BNC and proposals to promote the conservation and restoration of oceans at the highest political level, aiming at doubling BNC stock by 2050.
The report by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) is available here: Summary of the Lisbon Workshop on Blue Natural Capital [pdf, 1.5 MB, English].