Africa's blue economy can be and should be a major contributor to the continental transformation, sustainable economic progress, and social development to the continent.
This is according to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development who said that IGAD member states have a great blue economy potential that is overall underutilised.
Speaking during the on-going IGAD Blue Economy Knowledge and Experience Sharing Fair in Mombasa, Kenya’s head of mission in IGAD Dr Fatma Adan reiterated the sector has massive untapped potential, and could be one of the largest contributors to a higher and faster GDP growth in the continent.
“Traditional sectors such as fisheries, tourism, mineral extraction and marine and river transport, are showing evidence of significant development capacities while emerging sectors such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology and bioprospecting, desalinisation and renewable energy, are currently lacking attention and require substantial attention in the future,” Adan said.
She added, “Back home here in Kenya, blue economy has for instance, innovation and growth in the coastal, marine and maritime sector. What we witness in places like Mombasa where we are today, could deliver food, energy, transport, among other products and services, and serve as a foundation for sustainable development in Kenya.”
Adan said the concept of the blue economy incorporates a new approach in the sustainable economic exploitation of the resources of the oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies, and the conservation of aquatic ecosystems.
The sector's concept she said, also constitutes a new basis for the use and conservation of natural resources and habitats.
The blue economy she said, is therefore critical for the African continent and Kenya as whole, at this time when African countries are already losing up to 15 per cent of GDP growth due to climate change.
“The Africa region has a wealth of knowledge and experiences in different blue economy sectors. However, documentation and dissemination of the region’s experiences are limited.
“Blue economy is a new concept for Africa where we can learn from each other and from outside the continent.”
Adan also announced that IGAD had secured resources and signed a regional blue economy project with funding from the government of Sweden for three years.
The three-year project aims to improve and strengthen the governance structures of the blue economy agenda in the IGAD region and also conduct a marine biodiversity situation analysis.
It also aims at creating an inventory of chemical and plastic pollutants from source to sea and develop tools to monitor and mitigate chemical and plastic pollutions the coastal member states.
Adan added that Kenya is preparing to co-host the first ever Africa Climate Summit with the African Union Commission on September 4-6 this year, a forum where blue economy has already been lined up as a key stream of discussion.
The fair which begun on Tuesday, was officially opened by Rodrick Kundu, the director state department of Fisheries and Blue Economy who was representing the Cabinet Secretary for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Salim Mvurya.
Mvurya in his speech said the government has adopted a value chain approach to budgeting and has this year committed Sh267.7 billion to nine different value addition chains to empower and provide support to grassroots communities.
One of the value chains Mvurya said, is the blue economy and fisheries that are expected to create opportunities for employments in manufacturing and processing.
He said this approach will mainstream the bottom-up transformation agenda.
“The blue economy value chain will also promote income generation, revenue collection, reduce poverty and cost of living, food and nutrition and rural development with focus on the youth and women,” Mvurya said.
He said the government is also encouraging the beach management units to join the cooperative movement in order to make savings and benefit from lower loan interest-rates to help them grow their businesses.
The CS said policy reforms has identified fisheries as a new growth sector that has built on over the last two decades in terms of fish production that has increased from Sh9 billion in 2008 to Sh30.38 billion in 2021.
“To ensure the momentum stays up, the government is building capacity for local communities to venture into deep sea fishing, investments in infrastructure for post-harvest management, fish stocking and restocking programmes,” Mvurya said.