Page 39 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2024
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Leonidas Dimitriades-Eugenides advocates Generation Z’s potential to revolutionise
the maritime industry and calls for intergenerational collaboration to address
environmental crises.
BLUE ECONOMY:
A CATALYST
FOR ELEVATING
OUR CIVILISATION
TO NEW HEIGHTS
OF SUSTAINABLE
PROSPERITY
by Leonidas Dimitriades- Generation Z comprises bright and passionate Blue Economy can be the catalyst for elevating
Eugenides, minds, representing the rising tides of change our civilisation to new heights of sustainable
President of the in the maritime world. In the present climate, prosperity.
Eugenides Foundation and
IMO Goodwill Maritime ocean affairs call upon all generations, challeng- The urgency of this mission has been acceler-
Ambassador ing them to collectively chart a new course into ated by the stark realities humanity is now con-
the future of the Blue Economy. fronted with. The existential threat of climate
For the older generations who have spent dec- change and ocean degradation is no longer a
ades in the maritime industry, the Blue Economy hypothetical scenario but a clear and present
has long been understood as the vast economic danger. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
frontier of opportunities across the ocean. From Change (IPCC) has sounded the alarm on car-
shipping, ports, fisheries, and tourism to energy bon emissions’ devastating effects on marine
and beyond, the seas hold an uncompromising ecosystems and biodiversity. Meanwhile, ocean
promise as a sustainable engine of commerce, plastics and chemical pollutants are defiling our
development, and job creation for humanity. once-clean waterways on a massive scale.
However, for Generation Z’s techno-positive Addressing these compounding environmental
risk-takers and innovators, the Blue Economy crises is no longer an option; it is an intergen-
represents something far greater; it stands as a erational imperative. The maritime industries
defining challenge of our era, an all-encompass- built by the previous generation now look to
ing call to meld economic ambition with ardent Generation Z to reinvent them with sustainable
environmental stewardship and radical techno- new operating models for the decades ahead.
logical innovation. With the right approach, the We can no longer afford to accept the status
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