The Blue Economy

Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Desa Sidoasri, Desa Sitiarjo dan Desa Tambakrejo Kecamatan Sumbermanjing Wetan Kabupaten Malang pada bulan Februari 2015 hingga April 2015. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk peningkatan kapasitas lembaga di Desa Sidoasri dan Tambakrejo melalui temuan masalah yang mendesak dan untuk merumuskan solusi berdasarkan potensi desa. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Enabling Community Action (ENACT) Model. ENACT model merupakan salah satu pendekatan yang digunakan untuk memahami komunitas secara partisipatif untuk menghasilkan suatu rencana aksi masyarakat yang dapat dijadikan sebagai solusi dalam penelitian ini. Komunitas dalam penelitian ini adalah masyarakat Desa Sidoasri, Desa Sitiarjo dan Desa Tambakrejo. Teknik pengambilan data ini dilakukan dengan Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Hasil penelitian ini menujukkan bahwa lembaga yang dianggap dekat dan dipercaya oleh masyarakat masing-masing desa adalah komunitas gereja. Hal ini dikarenakan mayoritas penduduk desa  beragama Nasrani. Masalah yang dianggap mendesak meliputi pencemaran terkait kesehatan lingkungan desa (Desa Sidoasri), Perubahan fungsi hutan lindung (Desa Sitiarjo) dan Pencemaran lingkungan (Desa Tambakrejo). Solusi yang disusun adalah solusi yang mengacu terhadap masalah mendesak dan lembaga terdekat hasil dari FGD. Disarankan sebaiknya seluruh stakeholders yang ada di Desa Sidoasri, Desa Sitiarjo dan Tambakrejo memberikan peningkatan kapasitas lembaga yang optimal sehingga dapat mendukung dan mensukseskan gerakan Blue Economy

Abstract—The Blue Economy, also referred to as the ocean or maritime economy, is a concept that simultaneously encourage social inclusion, environmental sustainability, strengthening of maritime ecosystems, transparent governance as well as economic growth and development. This developing world initiative is already declared the future of Africa by the African Union (AU) with addition to Agenda 2063, the blueprint for development on the continent for the next few decades. Furthermore, the Blue Economy wave was strengthen by the adoption of the 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS). The impact on the trade and development agenda will be highlighted, followed by an overview of the governance structure and maritime economic strategies for the continent. South Africa as a regional and continental leader is also actively engaging by means of Operation Phakisa. This framework for planning and implementation of various marine related projects is made up by four priority sectors, namely: marine transport and manufacturing; offshore gas and oil exploration; aquaculture and marine protection services which includes ocean governance. These priority areas offer opportunities and challenges which requires further discussion as South Africa set sailing for economic growth and prosperity by tapping into the Blue Economy. Africa believes the benefits and potential rewards of maritime infrastructure developments followed by economic growth will be the turn of the tide for the continent. The international community, business and maritime world must take note of these opportunities as sustainable partnerships will be key to the success of Africa’s Blue Economy potential.
Keywords—Blue economy, maritime strategy, Africa’s trade liberalization, maritime policy and governance

Jo-Ansie van Wyk. ‘Defining the blue economy as a South African strategic priority: towards a sustainable 10th province?’, in Institute for Global Dialogue and the [South African] Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), The blue economy and the challenge of maritime security for South and Southern Africa. [South African] Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO): Pretoria. 2015. pp. 187-215.

Tidal stream energy (TSE) offers an innovative solution for clean, affordable, and reliable energy.  Its inherent predictability and high capacity factor set it apart from other forms of renewable energy.  Since it is caused by regular tidal cycles governed by gravitational forces of sun and moon and the rotation of the earth, its resource is not affected by weather and climate and does not have a problem of intermittency. 

TSE can be extracted using hydrokinetic turbines (Jimenez and others, 2018). It is at the coasts where the energy flux is concentrated due to the interactions and reflections of the various tidal constituents between the deep oceans and coastal shelves, and coastal bathymetry, in particular with narrowing channels and estuaries (Vogel and others, 2019).

The Philippines is one of the countries which can potentially benefit from its abundant resource of tidal stream energy. It consistently experiences strong water flow and currents from surrounding deep ocean basins - West Philippine Sea (or South China Sea)  to the west, the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean to the east, and the Celebes Sea (or Sulawesi Sea) to the south. Strong archipelago throughflow is observed and it interacts with complex bathymetry producing a range of energetic flow regimes (Jones and others, 2011).  Thus, tidal stream energy is naturally available around the island communities in the Philippines.

The Philippine Department of Energy has initially identified the following sites with the abundant resource: Hinatuan Passage, Camarines, Northeastern Samar, Surigao, Batan Island, Catanduanes, Tacloban, San Bernardino Strait, Babuyan Island, Ilocos Norte, Siargao Island and Davao Oriental. Buhali Jr (2012) assessed the preliminary tidal stream energy resource in the Philippines through a Delft3D hydrodynamic model calibrated from actual stream velocity measurements. They estimated a total of 46 potential TSE sites in the Philippines with a total practical capacity of 40 to 60 GW (Buhali Jr and others, 2012).

TSE can be harnessed and utilized in many remote and off-grid island and coastal communities in the Philippines where provision of basic electricity is not deemed commercially viable.  Developing TSE systems in these off-grid areas will pave the way to universal access to clean energy through provision of sustainable energy solutions and decarbonization of the existing electricity generation.

The Philippines is an archipelagic country with hundreds of off-grid islands. Due to technical and financial barriers, connecting these islands to the national power grid may not be realized. Off-grid communities remain energy poor, lacking access to modern energy facilities and services. Their dependence on fossil fuels for their power supply has precipitated significant social and environmental issues. To improve the energy situation and energy access in off-grid areas, the government seeks private sector participation (PSP) to encourage private investments in power generation and electrification in offgrid areas. This is an opportunity for innovative ocean energy developers to come in and explore off-grid areas with tidal in stream energy (TISE) resources. It is estimated that a total of 6,272 MW of TISE could potentially be harnessed in off-grid areas without significant impact to flow (SIF) and to the environment. Twenty provinces are identified with TISE potential and 81 diesel power plants (DPPs), all of which are suitable for privatization with replacement of the DPP with TISE. When considering provinces with high TISE potential and high energy sales, Dinagat Islands, Palawan, and Northern Samar emerge as the top three candidates. Further assessing DPPs open for privatization in these provinces, Dinagat DPP, El Nido DPP, Cuyo DPP, Taytay DPP, and Culion DPP have the highest annual energy sales ranging from ~ 1.4-6.4 million USD. These findings will help innovative ocean energy technology development and deployment for off-grid areas in the Philippines.

While welcoming the intervention of Winder and Le Heron (2006) as opening up a space for critical – and practical – engagement with ‘Blue Economy’ thinking, their employment of assemblage approaches could be extended. Doing so might produce a different conceptualization of the Blue Economy, while concurrently establishing new challenges for blue economic practices. In this commentary, I focus on three key areas: (1) the ontological separation of land and sea and the conceptualization of ‘marine space’; (2) the ‘liveliness’ of oceans; and (3) practical possibilities for Blue Economy policies to draw on and engage with ‘wet ontologies’. I argue that future geographical research on the Blue Economy would benefit from moving away from the categorizations of the ‘ecological’ or ‘bio’ and towards a fuller engagement with the diversity of actants and forces that contribute to the emergence of new practices, policies and (de)territorializations.