Resource-dependent economies should shift from finite extractive resources toward sustainable development pathways. This commentary frames marine natural capital as Blue Gold, in contrast to oil-based Black Gold. Using Oman as a case study, we show that integrating marine resources into national development strategies can advance diversification, resilience, and long-term sustainability when guided by ecological limits, effective governance, and value-based economic planning for sustainable ocean-based transformation in resource-dependent coastal economies worldwide.

Global warming threatens to eradicate Earth’s tropical corals. As legal interventions addressing climate change expand, fossil fuel companies’ historical awareness of their products’ damaging effects is increasingly important. We searched historical documents using a large-language-model-based agent, finding that carbon majors were aware by the 1980s of prospective impacts of fossil fuels on corals from ocean acidification, marine heatwaves, sea-level rise, and intensified storms and later funded efforts downplaying such impacts.

The EU’s goal of 10% strict marine protection is unlikely to succeed without fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs. Yet this depends on Article 11 of the Common Fisheries Policy – an overlooked legal mechanism that has struggled to deliver fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs, undermining EU conservation efforts in the EEZ. Reforming this bottleneck is essential to deliver EU biodiversity targets and guide high seas governance under the BBNJ Treaty.

Resource-dependent economies should shift from finite extractive resources toward sustainable development pathways. This commentary frames marine natural capital as Blue Gold, in contrast to oil-based Black Gold. Using Oman as a case study, we show that integrating marine resources into national development strategies can advance diversification, resilience, and long-term sustainability when guided by ecological limits, effective governance, and value-based economic planning for sustainable ocean-based transformation in resource-dependent coastal economies worldwide.

Global warming threatens to eradicate Earth’s tropical corals. As legal interventions addressing climate change expand, fossil fuel companies’ historical awareness of their products’ damaging effects is increasingly important. We searched historical documents using a large-language-model-based agent, finding that carbon majors were aware by the 1980s of prospective impacts of fossil fuels on corals from ocean acidification, marine heatwaves, sea-level rise, and intensified storms and later funded efforts downplaying such impacts.

The EU’s goal of 10% strict marine protection is unlikely to succeed without fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs. Yet this depends on Article 11 of the Common Fisheries Policy – an overlooked legal mechanism that has struggled to deliver fisheries regulation in offshore MPAs, undermining EU conservation efforts in the EEZ. Reforming this bottleneck is essential to deliver EU biodiversity targets and guide high seas governance under the BBNJ Treaty.

A persistent gap remains in climate governance: ocean dynamics, despite shaping the pace and expression of climate risk, are still weakly integrated into its core mechanisms. COP30 brought this limitation into focus. Its final decision text omitted the ocean entirely, even as record ocean heat content, intensifying marine heatwaves and accelerating sea-level rise defined the physical reality of 2024–2025. This omission is striking given that COP30 simultaneously delivered the strongest ocean-related initiatives ever presented at a UN climate conference. This reflects not a lack of ambition, but a structural weakness: the UNFCCC system lacks the mechanisms needed to integrate ocean science into core decision-making, including standardized indicators, systematic reporting and institutional continuity. Addressing this requires embedding ocean indicators into reporting and Global Stocktake processes, strengthening coordination across climate and ocean policy, and anchoring emerging initiatives within the UNFCCC framework.

Canada’s accelerating biodiversity and climate crises threaten ecosystems, communities, and the economy. Significant progress toward international and national conservation targets—supported by federal investment and Indigenous‑led stewardship—is now at risk as key funding programs near expiration. Here, we caution that stalled initiatives will jeopardize hard‑won gains that have taken decades to materialize, undermine reconciliation commitments, while escalating long‑term ecological and economic costs. Renewed federal leadership is essential to safeguard Nature and maintain Canada’s global conservation momentum.

The science enterprise faces growing challenges in the United States that require stronger connections between research and decision-making. Yet training at the science–policy interface remains concentrated in graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, limiting broader participation. As early-career professors with expertise in marine policy, we offer ten practical strategies for faculty members, departments, and institutions to support students’ interest in ocean policy and build broader policy literacy across campus.