The Cowrie – SIDS Times Magazine Fall 2017 Online Edition – Back to Table of Contents
Kyota, Ambassador of Palau to the US and Chair of the Board of the Global Island Partnership, Jeff Ardron, from the Commonwealth Secretariat, and Paul Holthus, President and CEO of the World Ocean Council (WOC) among many distinguished contributors.
The Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Governments of Solomon Islands and Fiji, organized the first Pacific Blue Economy Conference on August 23rd- 24th 2017, in Suva, Republic of Fiji Islands. The two days high-level conference built on the outcomes of the UN Ocean Conference and on existing Pacific commitments and frameworks related to the SDG 14 and provided a knowledge platform on the blue economy for the Pacific Islands and explore lessons learned, innovations and emerging industries based on ocean resources.
The Conference witnessed the contribution of excellent speakers from outside the region including like James Michel, former President of the Seychelles, Professor Gunter Pauli representing the innovative entrepreneur, H.E. Angus Friday, Ambassador for Grenada with incredible experience of Blue Economy, Jean-Michel Cousteau, President of Ocean Futures Society, H.E. Hersey Kyota, Ambassador of Palau to the US and Chair of the Board of the Global Island Partnership, Jeff Ardron, from the Commonwealth Secretariat, and Paul Holthus, President and CEO of the World Ocean Council (WOC) among many distinguished contributors.
The 200 participants which took part in the conference were a very various audience made of government, private sector, civil society, research institute and academia, representatives of multilateral institutions, the UN, and other development partners, international and regional organizations. This was truly a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder conference on the Blue Economy for the Pacific Islands.
The summary of outcome in final preparation and the Proceedings of this Conference will form the blueprint for the Pacific Islands Development Forum Strategic Plan on the blue economy to be approved by leaders later this year. More importantly, it will form a collective contribution to the regional Sustainable Development Goal roadmap for SDG14 (Life under water), with special emphasis on target 14.7 to which the concept of the blue economy has been associated. The PIDF Chair, the Government of the Solomon Islands, will provide this as our contribution for SDG14 to the Pacific regional SDG Roadmap and to the UN President of the General Assembly as part of PIDF’s commitment made for the Ocean Global Conference Call for Action.
For more information, please follow the link below:
http://pacificidf.org/1st-high-level-pacific-blue-economy- conference/
Guest speakers :
http://pacificidf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PBEC-Guest- Speakers-Highlight.pdf
For further information please contact:
Nitish Narayan – Team Leader Strategic Communication, PIF
nnarayan@pacificidf.org
secretariat@pacificidf.org
www.pacificidf.org