Ministerial preparatory meeting of the Blue Economy summit in Abu Dhabi |21 January 2014

Marine resource management and sustainable development issues merit specific attention

Government and civil society representatives discussed how to use and implement the Blue Economy as a tool to enable the transition of development models for island and coastal States towards sustainable development.

When he addressed Sunday’s ministerial preparatory meeting of the Blue Economy summit being held on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said the growing realisation before and after RIO +20 that more needs to be done regarding the sustainable development of the oceans, led the Seychelles government to take on the challenge of placing the Blue Economy on the international agenda as a tool for sustainable development. That is a Blue Economy concept founded in and supportive of, but distinct from the Green Economy.

“The issues of marine resource management and sustainable development merit specific attention. The resource base for many countries and particularly small island developing states (Sids) is primarily marine,” said Minister Adam, who added that 0.03% of Seychelles’ resource area is terrestrial.

The minister explained that technologies for exploitation of marine resources (bioprospecting, mining etc…) are coming on line while the measures to manage them are not properly in place, nationally or internationally. Measures in place for the sustainable management of the high seas have so far proven to be insufficient.

The minister said there must be a sustainable use of the biodiversity and an ecosystem approach is required for the restoration of biodiversity, rehabilitation of services, and proper management of resource extraction.

Minister Adam explained that despite the global economic crisis international tourist arrivals increased 4% in 2012 generating US $1.3 trillion and that such growth does not detract from the vulnerability of Sids being so dependent on a single industry.

“Tourism in Sids is directly linked to the quality and aesthetic appeal of the marine and coastal environment. The ‘coastal squeeze’ threatens this tourism capital. A Blue Economy approach where ecosystem services are properly valued and incorporated into development planning would help address this,” added Minister Adam.

Other speakers at Sunday’s meeting chaired by Environment and Energy Minister, Professor Rolph Payet, were Angus Friday of Grenada, Wendy Watson-Wright, the executive secretary intergovernmental oceanographic commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation; Peter Wheeler, vice-president for impact investing of the Nature Conservancy, and Peter Kristensen, interim secretariat of the Global Partnership on Ocean, World Bank.

It came out in Sunday’s meeting that the Blue Economy is founded upon research, assessment and data sharing, and that the assessment and valuation of the blue capital will require diverse and strong scientific and technical capacities.

The speakers and those who took part in the deliberations pointed out that international agencies and donors have to develop means to support and ease the implementation of the Blue Economy in developing countries.