How Africa can leapfrog blue economy potential

The Blue Economy Conference hosted recently in Nairobi, Kenya ended on a high note but the momentum of engagements about advancing the vital Blue economy sector in an optimal, sustainable and inclusive way in Kenya and across Africa should not lose steam.

Thirty-eight of Africa’s 55 nations including Kenya have access to resource-rich oceans, but most of them are yet to develop viable and sustainable blue economies that generate significant opportunities for their people.

That is why Africa needs a big leap forward in the ocean economy, to accelerate its socio-economic development and unlock its true potential. To achieve this, I highlight a few suggestions that can fit into the larger blue economy jigsaw puzzle.

Firstly, there is a need to push for a more robust global ocean governance system to ensure sustainable and equitable utilization of ocean resources and to address harmful practices that damage the ocean’s capacity to provide long-term sustained benefits to people. These harmful practices include overfishing, habitat destruction, plastic pollution, and dumping of toxic wastes, among many others.

It is worth noting, that the global celestial space is more regulated than the high seas. Currently, outside the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of individual countries, especially around Africa, it is a ‘free for all’, where everybody does pretty much what they like, resulting in loopholes and unwholesome practices that undermine the realization of a viable blue economy for all.

Appropriate and transnational regulatory regimes would be crucial to ensure an accelerated and effective development of the blue economy.

Secondly, science & technology must be leveraged more actively to accelerate realization of the blue economy potential for countries and communities in Africa, based on evidence and not sentiments.

For instance, there is a critical need to use available scientific tools such as Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) to quantify the total benefits that oceans in Africa provide to people and the economy. The benefits that need accurate valuation may include tourism, carbon sequestration, food, cultural sights, fish regeneration, protection from coastal storms, among many others.

This accounting or mapping exercise will engender better appreciation of the crucial importance of the oceans among policy makers, private sector and citizens and result in smarter decision-making and investments on sustainable utilization and protection of its resources.

If, for example, a coastal ecosystem like Lamu in Kenya, or Bazaruto in Mozambique, is valued at say US$1 billion a year in terms of the aggregate benefits it provides, then its degradation would be seen in true light by policy makers and communities and appropriate win-win decisions for investments, development and conservation of the ecosystem would be made.

The good news is that at least 13 countries in Africa are already working together to implement this types of nature-focused accounting systems under the framework of the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA). But this initiative should be extended to their blue economies, and further extended to beyond the existing GDSA 13-member countries.

Other scientific tools such as the Ocean Health Index would also be valuable in accurately gauging the current and projected state or health of our ocean resources and guiding suitable policy and investment decisions in optimizing the benefits that humans tap from the oceans without harming marine ecosystems.

There are many other available scientific tools and technologies that can be applied as well to accelerate realization of the envisioned Blue economy.

Thirdly, innovative and sustainable financing is urgently needed to fund current and future well-thought out ideas and plans for developing the blue economy across Africa. From the local governance institutions, to continental ones like the African Union, there is no shortage of worthy blueprints for Africa’s blue economy development. However, resourcing such plans remains a critical challenge.

Sustainable funding mechanisms mean that such plans can be implemented effectively and be made to run on financial autopilot, without being donor-dependent or the need for continuous injections of external funding. Various financial mechanisms exist for this, including Trust Funds, Endowment Funds, Payments for Ecosystem Services, and Blue Carbon Credit Schemes among others.

Fourthly, as we push for increased productivity in the blue economy, it would be prudent to also invest heavily in enhancing access to markets to avoid the pitfalls that have affected other sectors in Africa including Agribusiness, where products go to waste or are sold at throw-away prices due to market access limitations.

It’s vital that everyone remains fully engaged on the blue economy agenda including citizens, governments, civil society, and the private sector, and to work more closely to co-create the much-needed solutions since no single sector can achieve the desired momentous goals on their own.

Michael O’Brien-Onyeka is the Senior Vice President for Conservation International’s Africa Field Division based in Nairobi.