The need to include healthy marine ecosystems in Tobago's business model
Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, calls upon business to claim its share of ocean wealth by conserving and managing our islands’ resource. First published in the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce' Contact magazine, vol 17 no 2, Focus on Tobago We think of the ocean and its resources as vast and endless. Goods and services provided by the ocean for humans have been estimated to be about 24 trillion USD in assets (World Wildlife Fund, 2015) more than the economy of most nations. These goods include fishing, harvesting of materials and procurement of medicine, as well as services through shoreline protection, wave energy extraction, shipping and tourism. This asset value is grossly underestimated, as it doesn’t consider the crucial roles of the ocean in regulating climate, the air we breathe and stabilising temperature, nor does it consider the intrinsic cultural value that we place on the ocean (WWF 2015). But the resources of the ocean have been depleted more in our lifetime ...