Increasing illegal fishing, plastic pollution and climate change have been cited as the main hin-drances to development of the blue economy in Africa.
Stakeholders in the Fourth Project Technical Committee meeting in Mombasa organized by Afri-can Union – Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources(AU-IBAR) said the first phase of the pro-ject meant to conserve aquatic biodiversity in African blue economy made a milestone and they are yearning to for the second phase to address a number of issues affecting fishfolks.
Kenya director of fisheries and aquaculture development Mahongah Joseph said the government has completed the blue economy strategy which will be launched to address over exploitation of resources and address pollution in the Indian Ocean and mitigate climate change.
Speaking during the conference in Mombasa at Travellers Beach and Spa, Mr Joseph said support of Au-IBAR has assisted Kenya to address a number of challenges including how women and youth will be incorporated in the blue economy project.
Mr Joseph said the project has significantly contributed to the enhancement of the Pol-icy Environment, Regulatory Frameworks and Institutional capacities of AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities saying Kenya has finalized the develop-ment of her Blue Economy Strategy and is set to have it launched very soon.
“This high-level steering committee meeting, coming after a four-year dedicated im-plementation of the project by AU-IBAR, presents a platform to bring out achieve-ments, lessons and emerging issues that will be replicated in our Member States. From the perspective of the Kenyan government, there is much to carry forward and replicate in the various spheres of our development,” said Mr Joseph.
He added, “I am pleased to convey the gratitude of the Kenyan Government to SIDA and AU-IBAR for the benefits the country received from the Project including formal operationalization of the joint management of trans-boundary marine conservation areas (TBCA) in the Indian Ocean shared between the Kenya and Tanzania.”
Dorcas Agyei, Head IUCN project officer Ghana said the project through AU-IBAR has managed to improve managing its marine resources and help in gender mainstreaming.
Mrs Agyei said the project has equipped African nations with the tools, knowledge, and col-laborative frameworks necessary to safeguard aquatic ecosystems while unlocking in-clusive and sustainable economic opportunities for our continent.
"Youth and women play a key role in developing the blue economy and developing capacity of com-munity members, mainly women and youth, on nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration,” said Mrs Agyei.
AU-IBAR fishing management and blue economy expert Mohamed Seisay said AU-IBAR has been working with different countries in the first phase of the project to strengthen institutional capacity to protect ocean resources to fight illegal fishing, mitigate and promote gender streaming and the second phase which will begin next year will address issues raised in the first phase by different countries.
Mr Seisay also noted increasing habitat encroachment has also become a threat to marine resources and needs to be addressed.
The meeting was attended by more than 20 countries across Africa.
