Before building a city, urban planning is carried out, in theory. The logic also applies to the sea. Marine Spatial Planning is underway to map areas with potential for economic and scientific resources in the southern region of the sea coast, called the Blue Amazon by the Brazilian Navy, through which 95% of foreign trade passes. However, experts interviewed by Bora Investir point out that the lack of official data makes it difficult to attract more private capital investments.
“It’s a new area. Understanding the process is very new. Now that society begins to understand better”, says professor at the Department of Marine Sciences, Ronaldo Adriano Christofoletti, at the Federal University of São Paulo, (Unifesp), Baixada Santista campus.
In January this year, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) announced R$7 million non-refundable to stimulate research in the South region, whether coastal or maritime, which includes five of the country's 10 main ports. The initiative seeks to outline planning the most suitable points for exploring the resources of the Atlantic Ocean, which are under Brazilian jurisdiction, before implementing initiatives to avoid disrupting maritime traffic.
In economic terms, why is the region important?
At least 95% of Brazilian exports by sea pass through the Blue Amazon due to the Exclusive Economic Zone. 95% of the oil, 80% of the natural gas and 45% of the fish are also extracted there, according to the Navy. The entire maritime economy employs, formally and informally, approximately 21 million people and generates more than R$530 billion in wages.
As a result, the final demand is estimated at R$1.5 trillion, according to calculations by Andréa Bento Carvalho, associate professor at the Institute of Economic, Administrative and Accounting Sciences at the Federal University of Rio Grande (ICEA-FURG). She is one of the organizers of the book Blue Economy: Vector for the Development of Brazil.
In terms of participation in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the sea economy reaches 19.5%, based on data from 2018. The time lag is explained, according to Andréa, by the lack of official data, which requires an effort academic to debug the raw information and precisely that takes time.
“In 2015 we were in recession and, even so, the maritime economy had a lot of momentum. It continues with this momentum in 2018 and can be compared with agricultural productivity, for example, because they are close in values”, she states.
In terms of maritime GDP, the sector that stands out is oil and natural gas. “It is an expanded coast, being such an extensive area, from the coast to the limits of the continental shelf, which has a very great economic and ecological importance. An example is the pre-salt that is largely there. All the oil extracted from the Brazilian ocean is in the GDP”, highlights professor Álvaro de Oliveira D’Antona, professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp).
Why is official data missing?
Because the region still needs more research and attention from the federal government, according to the professors. There is little official data available, which makes it difficult to carry out research at universities and, consequently, hinders the attraction of more investments to the area.
“It is true, however, that it includes different sectors associated with the economy of the sea, but unfortunately there are still no official data in Brazil regarding the economic magnitude of this enormous geographic space”, says professor Thauan Santos, from the Naval War College and coordinator of the Group Economy of the Sea.
The challenge is to gather sectorized data from surveys such as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and centralize them in a methodology. This is Professor Andréa's academic mission, who created a methodological matrix divided between the maritime and coastal sectors, which is capable of counting the numbers related to the growth of the maritime economy. The lack of official data makes Andréa's work more time-consuming.
“What has to be overcome is the economic valuation. Little is still known about this. There is a lack of strong government action to minimize risks so that private capital feels safer to enter this context”, she states.
For Professor Álvaro, the lack of knowledge about the Blue Amazon has several implications, both for society and for those who work directly in the region. “The basis of this lack of knowledge is the lack of resources to do what needs to be done, from military, environmental and economic protection. How are we going to explore a region without knowledge and resources? It is true that from a mineral perspective there is oil exploration, with different studies, but what about that? There is still a lot to go forward.”
Why Blue Amazon?
The term was coined by squadron admiral Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho, in 2004, to bring a political-strategic mentality. The reference to the Amazon forest was made due to the similarity in magnitude and extension of the maritime region, whose size covers 5.7 million km2.
Furthermore, the Blue Amazon also includes a vast wealth of biodiversity, economic potential — such as oil and gas extraction, as well as becoming a new space for the installation of offshore wind farms — and social and cultural activities that are practiced in the coastal zone.
There are more than 280 municipalities facing the sea and, according to the 2022 Census, more than half of the Brazilian population lives on the sea coast, that is, the equivalent of 111.28 million people who live up to 150 km from the sea, according to the IBGE.
“The tension in the region is established, because there are development models that are not necessarily sustainable. Actions that target the sea without being based on socio-environmental awareness are risky. So, the economic potential and ecological importance cannot be ignored”, concludes Álvaro.
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