THE Blue Environmental Sustainability Gap (Blue ESGap) framework, which is being piloted in the Philippines and Indonesia, is a novel tool that guides the sustainable management of marine and coastal resources. It uses specialized indicators "to monitor biodiversity loss, pollution, overfishing and climate pressures, tying these ecological factors to the economic and social systems that depend on healthy oceans," said Agence Française de Développement environmental economist Oskar Lecuyer.
Lecuyer made this presentation during the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture's Agriculture and Development Seminar Series on Sept. 12. He also noted the urgency to move from "low sustainability" which treats natural resources as replaceable by economic capital to "strong sustainability" which sees ecosystems as irreplaceable for livelihoods and resilience.
Emphasizing that six of nine planetary boundaries have already been crossed, Lecuyer urged stronger policies and inclusive approaches for marine conservation. For the Philippines, he identified policy opportunities such as updating the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-Nipas Act) and improving environmental data systems.
Lecuyer underscored that Blue ESGap integrates community-level data and highlights welfare losses among small-scale fishers and coastal populations. He explained the framework's compatibility with the United Nations' System of Environmental Economic Accounting, enabling environmental data in official statistics.
He said that Blue ESGap could immediately support the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Philippine Statistics Authority in environmental monitoring and ocean economy accounting aligned with global standards.
"With the Blue ESGap framework, we can measure how far we are from strong sustainability and identify the gaps we must close," Lecuyer said. He added that sustainability is not only about protecting nature but also about safeguarding the economy and humanity's well-being for the long term.