Exploring the ‘oceans economies’ of Western Indian ocean Coastal States

Abstract

As countries seek to diversify their economies and advance economic growth, ocean industry sectors and activities are expanding within the ocean and coastal areas. Such expansion has the potential to place increasing pressure on the health of the ocean ecosystems. The ocean development discourse has been referred to under various terms, such as “oceans economy”, “blue economy”, “maritime economy, “blue growth” and “marine economy”. Due to differing national development priorities and economic considerations, the resources and policies governments and international bodies provide to maintain the balance between ocean development and ocean ecosystem health are varied. Understanding the national priorities and the implementation plans can indicate how seriously governments are taking their commitments to international agreements, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) commitments. This study aimed to describe and evaluate the status of ocean economic development programmes within Western Indian Ocean coastal states. A literature review (Chapter 1) was undertaken to describe and highlight the growing importance of the ocean as an economic development space, with a focus on Africa. This was followed by three analytical chapters - a systematic review of the term ‘blue economy’ to understand the development and differing uses of the term in the global policy and research discussions (Chapter 2), the national ocean development agendas of African coastal states in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region (Chapter 3), and the ocean governance priorities within international programmes within the WIO region which may be incorporated into, or influence, national policies (Chapter 4). The countries assessed in this study (Chapter 3 and 4) included South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Seychelles, Comoros, Somalia, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Chapter 5 provides a general discussion of the preceding chapters to synthesise the important outcomes and conclusions. The results from the systematic review (Chapter 2) indicated the term ‘blue economy’, in the context of ocean development, was first mentioned in the peer-reviewed literature in 2011 in one journal article, which increased to fifty-two articles in 2020. There was no consensus on the meaning of the term with a variable focus on economic, social and environmental aspects. However, consensus on the term, based on the integration of 1) economic development, 2) environmental sustainability, and 3) social equality, equity and inclusivity priorities is proposed, and must be considered by national policymakers, especially within developing states as they expand their ocean sectors. Integration of these three priorities will be important to realising the SDGs. Through investigating the national ocean development programmes of the WIO African coastal states (Chapter 3) it was found that several of the countries had developed national/governmental ocean economy or blue economy structures or programmes. Although the ‘blue economy’ discourse has been integrated into the policy documents and platforms of African states, there has been limited reporting or acknowledgement of this within reports on national contributions to the SDGs, within the coastal states of the WIO region. The review of ocean governance programmes in the WIO region (Chapter 4) indicated that many, and varied, organisations are operating in the region, focused on various topics related to ocean governance. Therefore, states can draw from substantial resources to develop their national priorities on ocean governance, incorporating and integrating the blue economy pillars. The opportunity for international collaboration provided by the SDGs, other ocean health commitments such as the GBF and the UN Ocean Science Decade for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 provides an opportune time to accelerate the development of African knowledge and capacities in ocean governance to support tangible benefits to society. Considering it is less than a decade until the SDGs are to be met, innovative mechanisms for integration of development, society and the environment are needed, and Africa can play a meaningful role in these.