Letters

LETTERS: Right policies needed to extract ocean wealth

BLUE

Blue economic activities may provide outputs or impacts on the ecosystems and ecosystem processes. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Our global ocean covers more than 72 per cent of the earth’s surfaces and is responsible for providing food, jobs, and recreation for a large portion of the world’s population and has become a significant driver of global gross domestic product (GDP).

Our oceans drive economic activity, responsible for 80 per cent of global trade, 32 per cent of hydrocarbons extracted for energy needs, and for both domestic and international tourism for almost 200 countries and overseas territories. The contribution of the ocean economy to global value added wealth has recently been estimated conservatively at $1.5 trillion annually, or roughly 3 per cent of global value added wealth.

Kenya will host the first blue economy conference in the region. As an investment adviser it is exciting to witness the country transform itself into a blue economy. But this can only come about through sustainable development of the available resources. More and more coastal countries are looking at the ocean as the next frontier for economic development. By harnessing coastal resources, Kenya will not only boost growth, but also tackle some of the key challenges faced by our local and regional economies including high unemployment, low growth, food security, poverty, as well as resilience to climate change.

With the pressing land issues and speedy growing population, Kenya should start giving more attention now to blue economy. We should start looking towards the large portion of the country that’s covered by water, that previously seemed inhospitable and inaccessible, and we build the technology that will help us to understand it better. But how can we use the resources that are in our oceans with a more sustainable approach that we didn’t have with our land-based resources? It’s a second chance for us to do things properly. The ocean is an abundant resource and therefore has the potential to expand existing sectors as well as nurture entirely new ones — if we manage it appropriately.

It is not clear what a sustainable blue economy should look like, and under what policies, conditions, and pathway is it most likely to develop. We need to develop policies to support this emerging sector. Sustainable policies in developing blue spaces for economic growth and development while maintaining ocean health can define a new era of economic opportunity for Kenya.

Better understanding of this new frontier will contribute to more informed decision-making over existing ocean assets, and as a result, greater economic resilience for the country. More importantly, this natural resource, if well managed, has a potential to make a much greater contribution to poverty reduction and shared prosperity for the county’s growing population, as well as increasing their resilience to climate change.

The ocean may also be a new economic frontier, driven by a growing population in search of new sources of growth, and rapid technological advancesmaking new resources accessible. Economic activity in this space, traditionally focused on shipping, tourism, fishing, and offshore oil and gas, is set to change dramatically in the coming decades with emerging industries that include offshore wind, tidal and wave energy, oil and gas exploration and production from previously inaccessible waters, offshore aquaculture, seabed mining, cruise tourism, and marine biotechnology, among others. The potential benefits from the development of these activities and the use of the ocean is considerable, and could help address many of the key challenges facing Kenya in coming decades, from food insecurity to the search for new sources of energy, poverty reduction and jobs.

If properly managed, many of these natural capital assets are renewable and capable of yielding a sustained flow of benefits. For example, fish stocks are a living resource that provides a flow of inputs into the production of seafood in the ocean economy, why should we be importing fish from China?

Alternatively, blue economic activities may provide outputs or impacts on the ecosystems and ecosystem processes, for example, coastal development leading to construction or expansion of ports, marinas, harbours, or channels for shipping that change or convert ecosystems such as sea grass beds and mangroves.