Excellencies,
It is a pleasure to engage with you today on how to unlock the potential of the blue economy. My deep thanks to France and to Kenya, UNEPs long-term partner and host nation.
We must indeed make great efforts to boost a sustainable blue economy. Yet Sustainable Development Goal 14 on life below water is drastically underfunded. We need a surge in sustainable blue finance, directing capital toward initiatives that conserve and restore marine ecosystems, build resilience for vulnerable communities, and unlock the potential of a regenerative, nature-positive and equitable ocean economy.
We are seeing movement. The One Ocean Finance initiative is being designed to align public, private, philanthropic and multilateral actors. The Global Fund for Coral Reefs show how such coordination can work in practice demonstrating how, through blended finance, public and private sector actors can join forces around shared objectives.
UNEP is of course deeply committed to mobilizing large-scale financial resources to unlock a sustainable blue economy. UNEPs integrated sustainable blue economy and coastal resilience building portfolio is worth US$XX, globally, of which US$XX is in Africa.
18 Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans, including seven hosted by UNEP, are working hard to accelerate a sustainable blue economy transition, converting high-level political commitments into measurable, ecosystem-based impacts at the sub-global scale.
Through the Abidjan Convention, for example, nature-positive investment is being stimulated by strengthening Integrated Marine and Coastal Zone Management, Marine Spatial Planning, and mangrove restoration; developing plastic pollution action plans; and supporting sustainable coastal management across 17 West African countries. In the Western Indian Ocean, the Nairobi Convention has implemented US$25 million of support in regional ocean governance. The Barcelona Convention is doing similar work in the Mediterranean.
But we must do more, including by rapidly moving to implementation of the BBNJ Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. With nearly two-thirds of the ocean lying beyond national jurisdiction, there can be no sustainable blue economy without protection of the high seas. UNEP is, of course, ready and equipped to lend its expertise and serve as the institutional locus of this Secretariat.
Excellencies, our ocean is the foundation of our very existence. With a thriving blue economy, we can shore up this foundation for centuries to come.
