The Cowrie – SIDS Times Magazine Fall 2017 Online Edition – Back to Table of Contents
For the small island developing states (SIDS) and territories which comprise the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)1, the ocean and its resources ” assumed a new importance as possibly the last frontier for resource exploitation which underpins their aspirations for self-reliant development”. This developmental aspiration of these ‘great ocean developing states’, was articulated near 30 years ago by Sir Vaughn Lewis, first Director General of the OECS and Mr. Brian Challenger, a member of staff.2 The recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underscores the significance of the ocean in development, particularly for SIDS, including those in the Caribbean which are among the most vulnerable.3
The Ocean is the life blood of our planet”.4 The ocean covers 71% of the earth’s surface, contains 97% of the earth’s water, provides more than 5 0% of the oxygen terrestrial beings breathe, drives global weather patterns, absorbs around 30% of human-produced carbon dioxide and serves as a critical buffer to the ever-worsening impacts of global warming. It’s an ecological treasure trove, estimated to contain over 80% of world’s plants and animal species, and provides an estimated US$24 trillion in ecosystem services annually. Ocean goods and services include food as well as genetic, pharmaceuticals and biotechnological resources. Concurrently, human activities including those which contribute to “the inconvenient truth” of climate change, put the health and sustainability of the ocean, and by extension, the planet and human existence at risk. Greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to ocean acidification and destruction of ocean resources; illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing is causing depletion of fish stocks; and, marine pollution from ships and land based sources is adversely impacting marine life and ocean goods and services.
The Caribbean Sea, a biodiversity hotspot, directly supports the economies of 34 coastal SIDS and territories and 41 million people. It provides significant marine ecosystems, goods and services including seafood consumption well above the global average 5 ; marine- based tourism and recreation, the largest economic sector;6 coastal protection and resilience from reefs and mangroves valued at about US$1 to 3 billion per year; and carbon sequestration by mangroves and seagrass beds (See Figure 1).
A 2016 report by the World Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the OECS Commission and Duke University,7 affirmed the potential of the ocean to underpin sustainable economic and social development in the region. It found that ocean activities in the Caribbean generated US$407 billion in 2012, equivalent to 14% – 27% of the global ocean economy.
The Revised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union of June 18, 20108 provides, among other things, that ” the Member States shall endeavour to co- ordinate, harmonise and undertake joint actions and pursue joint policies particularly in the fields of matters relating to the sea and its resources.”9 Consequently, the Member States have adopted an OECS-wide approach to integrated ocean governance and established the Eastern Caribbean Regional Ocean Policy and Strategic Action Plan (ECROP) which, inter alia: articulates a vision for the ocean; promotes and guides future sustainable use and development of the region’s marine waters and resources; outlines a full range of priorities and actions as wells as institutional reforms to transition to a ‘blue economy’.10
The ECROP is being actively implemented to realize OECS’ vision for the ocean through ‘blue growth, 11 and by transitioning to a blue economy. Achievement of these should be supported, by the best available scientific information for protection, sustainable utilisation, preservation and where possible, restoration of resources, participatory management and stewardship. Regional and national coordinating mechanisms are also being strengthened to enhance implementation of ECROP and related national ocean policies.
Consistent with the Call to Action from the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference, the OECS continues to pursue partnerships to set the Region on a path of blue growth to transition to blue economies. In this regard, the Caribbean Regional Oceanscape Project (CROP),12 which contemplates, among other things, national and regional marine spatial planning is at an advanced stage of preparation. The OECS is also one of the agencies which has established the Interim Coordinating Mechanism for CLME+ Strategic Action Programme and is a member of the related Project Execution Group.13
The OECS has long recognized the potential of the ocean to contribute to development at the individual, community through to the global level and continues to actively pursue measures to support sustainable health and wealth at all levels to achieve sustainable development that supports people, planet, prosperity, partnerships and peace.
Co-authored by
David Robin(drobin@oecs.org) Programme Coordinator
Ocean Governance and Fisheries Division OECS Commission
Norma Cherry-Fevrier(nfevrier@oecs.org) Programme Officer
Social & Environmental Development Division OECS Commission
1. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) was established on June 18, 1981. It currently comprises Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which are full Member States in addition to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Martinique which are Associate Member States (www.oecs.org).
2. Lewis V.A., and Challenger, B., (1988). Regional Cooperation and Development: The OECS experience. In E. Gold (Ed.), A new law of the sea for the Caribbean (p. 255). New York, Springer-Verlag.
3 The Development agenda of is enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, and the Call to Action form the June 5 to 9, 2017, United Nations Oceans Conference to support the implementation of SDG 14; the preamble of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; and, in the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (S.A.M.O.A.) Pathway.
4 Opening quotation and following statistics from H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the 71st Session of the General Assembly, on December 13, 2016, during the briefing concerning the United Nations Ocean Conference.
5 In 2013 fish consumption across the Caribbean Regional Mechanism Region was 24 kilogram per person and 26 kilogram per person in the OECS. (See CRFM Statistical and Information Report for 2014, p.76.) Global average consumption in 2012 was 12 kilogram per person.
6 Tourism and recreation accounted for 15 percent of GDP and almost 2 million direct and indirect jobs in 2011.
7 World Bank. (2016). Toward a Blue Economy: A Promise for Sustainable Growth in the Caribbean. Washington D.C.: Author.
8 The Revised Treaty of Basseterre entered into force on January 21, 2011.
9 Provision in Article 4 (2) (o) – Purposes and Functions of the Organisation.
10 Blue Economy means “a sustainable ocean economy where the wealth derived from ocean assets are in balance with the ocean’s ecological health”. Definition from The Economist (2015); and World Bank Report Toward a Blue Economy: A Promise for Sustainable Growth in the Caribbean. The ‘blue economy’ was first conceptualized at the Rio+20 conference in 2012.
11 Blue growth is “the means by which an unsustainable ocean economy can transition towards a more balanced and sustainable one”.
12 CROP is funded by the Global Environmental Facility, (GEF), administered by the World Bank and executed by the OECS Commission.
13 Interim Coordination Mechanism for the Sustainable Management, Use and Protection of shared Living Marine Resources in the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems.