Fiji’s comprehensive ocean policy vital to climate fight
Why is it important that a small island nation like Fiji have a comprehensive ocean policy?
Because while we may be regarded as a small island developing state, Fiji has played big role in bringing issues such as our ocean’s health and also climate change to the world’s attention. And, as the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum pointed out, we are not merely a small island state, but we are in fact a large ocean state with over 1.3 million square kilometres of sea under our protection.
It was Fiji’s first-ever Ambassador to the United Nations, the late, great Satya Nandan who personally led the international charge in finalising the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. While speaking at a stakeholder workshop, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum pointed out that decades on from that achievement, Fijians have been propelled once again to the forefront of oceans leadership as we find ourselves on the frontlines of our ocean’s degradation.
We see first-hand everyday how ocean ecosystems are buckling under the strain of a warming world, pollution, overfishing and other reckless abuse from humankind. In the face of these new and worsening threats, this national ocean policy will serve as our compass towards sustainable oceans management – at home through action and aboard through advocacy.
The policy iteself
The focus of this policy is not to re-hash the challenges before us – it is about how we, as the Fijian people, as businesses, as civil society organisations, and as a government are going to practically go about solving them.
“It is about how we will leverage traditional knowledge to take on new problems. It is about leading by example in addressing the complex consequences of the oceanclimate nexus,” the A-G said.
“And it is about how we will build a blue economy that transforms the ocean into a more sustainable source of prosperity.
“It is about choosing a different future for the ocean; rather than see them collapse into lifeless wastelands, with the right management, ocean ecosystems can become more bountif u l than they have ever been.”
It’s difficult to put an exact figure to the value of the blue economy. But most experts estimate it is worth around 1.5 trillion dollars a year. In contrast, less than one percent of that sum is invested back into ocean management. That’s exploitation, plain and simple.
Importance
“And it’s costing us badly. If you look at the fisheries sector, for example, that lack of re-investment is leaving billions on the table. To be exact, The World Bank and FAO recently revealed that ocean fisheries mismanagement costs us up to $100 billion annually in lost economic potential,” the A-G said.
“Sector by sector, the story is much the same – humanity has treated our oceans as an inexhaustible resource. We have failed at making simple, c om - mon - sense investments back in ocean health.
“Meanwhile, the science has become painfully clear: The only ocean we can actually afford in the future is one which is sustainably managed.
“For the first time in a very long time – due to the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 – humanity’s assault on the ocean is actually relenting. But that’s not progress we can count on.
“Even as the th world’s most developed econom economies have put forward tens of trillions trilli of dollars in economic stim stimulus to revive their crippled ec economies, the ocean economy ha has so far been an afterthought.
“So, for all the celebratory headlines that a new vaccine will soon bring life back to normal, we should paus pause and consider what that means f for the planet.
“Do we wa want to rush back to the one-sided, short-sighted exploitation of o ocean ecosystems? Do we want to relax restrictions on oceans man management for the sake of immediat immediate economic growth? “Fiji will n not settle for that desperate reco recourse; neither should the rest of t the world. Instead, we must use thi this opportunity to bring big, blue ide ideas to bear in the global recovery. T Though small island economies li like our own have been hardest hit by this pandemic, we remain com committed – now more than ever -- t to a blue recovery and a sustainabl sustainable future.
“To get th there, we should make space for innovative solutions, including th the use of blue bonds, which we b believe can play a key role in our e economic comeback.”
mak ing invest -
Fiji’s comm commitment
At the hea heart of this policy rests Fiji’s comm commitment to the 100 per cent susta sustainable management of our Excl Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and it its 30 per cent designation as Mari Marine Protected Areas by 2030.
For Fiji, a s sustainable ocean is an ocean free f from pollution, a wellmapped ocea ocean, a healthy ocean of interlinked habitats which provide food an and bounty through aquaculture a and regulated fishing, an ocean o of net-zero emissions, including in shipping, an ocean which is op open to scientific exploration and u understanding, and an ocean which remains a source of identity, of culture, and of fulfilling livelihoo livelihoods for our people.