On 25 November 2021 (11:00 - 12:00 PM EAT, UTC +3), Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals (PEA) held the 6th webinar in PEA’s 2021 webinar series, with the objective - among others - to increase awareness of the work being done on blue economy under PEA but also to get feedback from participants - to guide PEA’s programme in 2022 and to inform the proposed ADB, UNEP, and UNDP BlueInvest Asia platform.
What sustainable blue economy interventions look like is still very new to many of us. The issue is how to navigate from sustainable blue economy strategies to actual action-oriented financing.
The concept of a "blue economy" came out of the 2012 Rio+20 Conference. It is based on the premise that healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems are more productive and a must for sustainable ocean-based economies and livelihoods. This concept promotes economic growth, social inclusion and improved livelihoods at the same time as ensuring the environmental sustainability of oceans and seas. It defines a new paradigm of ocean economy, one that is in balance with the long-term capacity of the assets, goods and services of marine ecosystems, and that considers social inclusiveness.
It is important for the countries to capitalize on blue assets but while securing these opportunities, poverty and environment dimensions should also be integrated into the blue economy planning and financing mechanisms being developed by member States and key development partners in Asia and the Pacific. This is relatively a nascent area, but countries and development partners are making efforts to make use of the ocean economy and explore this innovative source of finance. The knowledge base and experience is limited but growing. In order to accelerate the process, it is vital for countries and development partners to share their knowledge and experiences.
UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action for SDGs (PEA) has been working on mainstreaming Poverty-Environment, climate and gender objectives into the Blue Economy concept. The project has provided technical support to initiatives at country and regional level.
The recorded webinar is accessible on YouTube as linked below: