Blue economy training

Our "Sustainable Blue Economy" courses are tailor-made!

We design and deliver training courses, both in person and remotely, to strengthen the knowledge and skills of public and private actors involved in economic development and, at the same time, in the preservation of marine, maritime, and coastal areas. In other words, our approach focuses on teaching about oceans, seas, and coastlines, as well as rivers and lakes, as defined in the various definitions of the concept of sustainable or regenerative blue economy.

What is the sustainable blue economy?

As there is no single, universal definition, we can say that the sustainable blue economy is first and foremost a concept! It was triggered by blue growth, purely economic, until the Brundtland Report (chap. 10) of 1987. We can then reasonably date this concept to June 2012, during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20), where several island states, such as Palau (Micronesia), Malta, etc., expressed their expectations regarding the inclusion of the blue economy and climate change in the Sustainable Development Goals.

A second important milestone was the first Global Conference on the Sustainable Blue Economy, held in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2018. This conference outlined the actions to be taken around the world and specifically highlighted Small Island developing states (SIDS), whose economies depend largely on the sustainable blue economy.

In summary, we can say that the sustainable blue economy is a comprehensive and transdisciplinary approach to better, more rational and sustainable management of the uses and activities, spaces and resources related to oceans, seas and coastlines.

Who are our training courses on ocean, sea, and coastal activities, areas, and resources aimed at?

Our training courses focus on economic development and, at the same time, adaptation to climate change and the governance of areas and resources.

Our learners are therefore very diverse, depending on the topics covered:

– For the public sector: elected officials and executives from local authorities, civil servants from ministries, executives from public institutions and establishments, etc.

– For the private sector: all business leaders, start-up founders, entrepreneurs, etc.

– For civil society: leaders of associations, NGOs, international institutions, etc.

– For the education sector: students, teachers, and other staff.

What can our training courses include?

Our approach is holistic, addressing all topics related to oceans, seas, and coastlines, and where necessary rivers and lakes, in a cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary manner. We include (in whole or in part):

Geopolitics: the new thalassocracy, power hegemony and sovereignty, the acceleration of standards and conventions, the high seas and borders, the evolution of “lawlessness,” etc.;
Governance: the law of the sea, the high seas treaty, the seafarers’ rights and maritime labor convention, the conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), regional cooperation and conventions, the flag state, port state, state action at sea, safety and security, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and marine protected areas (MPAs), etc.
Economic activities: fossil fuels (oil and gas), deep-sea mining, coastal and offshore tourism (cruises), water sports, maritime freight transport, passenger transport, ports (and the concepts of Smartport, digital and energy transformation), small-scale and industrial fishing, aquaculture (fish farming at sea and on land, seaweed farming, etc.), shipbuilding and repair, classification and naval engineering, ship decommissioning and dismantling, marine renewable energy (MRE), submarine cables, artificial intelligence (AI) and oceanographic and maritime data, space and imaging, sensors, drones and autonomous vessels, cybersecurity, digital exploration activities and digital twins, oceanography and bathymetry, medical research, pharmaceutical and cosmetic activities, etc.
Environment and biodiversity: the origin and evolution of the ocean, living organisms, marine biodiversity, climate change, rising sea levels, pollution (heavy metals, plastics, etc.), the origins and consequences of anthropogenic impacts, challenges, solutions and adaptations, sanctuaries and marine protected areas, fishery resources, etc. ;
Human societies and the seas: the perceptions and cultural and religious differences of coastal populations, the specific economic characteristics of islands and coastal areas, the organization of sustainable resource extraction, adaptation and resilience in the past and future, consequences and solutions to rising sea levels, human evolution with the ocean, civil organizations and NGOs, the vision and action of economic enterprises, the emergence of the regenerative blue economy, the blue carbon approach, the financing of activities (blue economy) and/or adaptation (climate change and rising sea levels), etc.

How do we operate?

We always work with a partner organization. This may be a university, an international organization such as the UN, a government ministry, an international company, etc., which commissions us to design and deliver training, either in person or remotely. The topics covered are defined in a set of specifications, with objectives and a training program designed in cooperation with our partner.

Training courses can take the form of professional training, a knowledge or skills enhancement module, a CLOM or MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), several digital micro-modules, etc.

They vary in length, from one day to several months, from a few hours per week to full-time for several months.

University degrees and certificates

Thanks to our partnerships with universities, our training courses lead to degrees or certificates.

You are a public or private organisation and you are planning to train your staff in the sustainable Blue Economy?

Then contact us to build this training together!