Aligning ocean health and human well-being |05 November 2013

Experts agree way forward

Experts have agreed on the way forward through a global strategy to align ocean health and human well-being.

The Blue Ribbon Panel, which includes 21 global experts from 16 countries including Seychelles, has emphasised that without action to turn around the declining health of the ocean, the consequences for economies, communities and ecosystems will be irreversible.
 
Environment and Energy Minister, Professor Rolph Payet, who sits on the Blue Ribbon Panel, said that Seychelles is on the right path to maintain the health of its surrounding seas, with various policies and protection laws which are currently in place.  

Minister Payet said that lately international organisations have intensified focus on declining ocean health.

“Ocean change is climate change and vice versa,” said Blue Ribbon Panel chairman Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.  “With looming threats of rising sea levels, warmer waters and a growing human population we need healthy oceans and coasts to mitigate climate change, feed billions and protect coastal communities.”

Minister Payet said that a recent report of the panel shows that solutions exist that benefit both oceans and economies.

According to the panel, fragmented approaches that fail to consider social, political, economic and ecological relationships will fail to meet the complex challenges facing ocean health. The report calls for an integrated approach to ocean investment and emphasises the essential role of public-private partnerships.

The panel also agreed that the global partnership for oceans is a platform that brings together the multi-stakeholder support, technical expertise and finance needed to change the course on oceans.

“Getting to healthy oceans is a global challenge that needs the concentrated effort of big and small businesses, government and science,” said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.

“Though they brought very different world views, everyone on this panel agreed that we can’t keep going with business-as-usual and all parts of society must be part of the solution.”

The panel agreed there is no “silver bullet” to resolving urgent ocean challenges. Therefore, it proposes five principles to ensure effective global partnership for oceans investments: (1) sustainable livelihoods, social equity and food security; (2) a healthy ocean; (3) effective governance systems; (4) long-term viability and (5) capacity building and innovation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment and Energy is increasing its work to emphasise the protection of marine environment with a series of projects to indentify the sensitivity of Seychelles’ ocean biodiversity especially on the outer islands.  

The findings of the Blue Ribbon Panel has come at a critical time in history where all levels of society and all stakeholders need to come together in a joint action as a response to this very global problem.

Convened by the World Bank, the Blue Ribbon Panel comprises leaders from 16 countries, representing government, the private sector, civil society organisations, academia, and multi-lateral institutions.

The panel was tasked with providing recommendations to the global partnership for oceans (GPO) on the principles and practices for prioritising and implementing sustainable ocean investment.
 
The GPO is a new and powerful approach to restoring ocean health. It mobilises finance and knowledge to activate proven solutions at an unprecedented scale for the benefit of communities,

countries and global well-being. The GPO is now a growing alliance of over 140 governments, international organisations, civil society groups, and private sector interests committed to addressing the threats to the health, productivity and resilience of the ocean. It aims to tackle widely documented problems of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss.