Sustainable Use of Africa’s Oceans and Seas
Eromosele Abiodun examines the outcome of the Association of African Maritime Administrations conference held in Abuja and posited that sustainable use of oceans and seas will boost the economy of Africa and pull millions out of poverty
In recent years, before the global financial crisis, international trade had increased exponentially. While African countries also benefited from this increase, their share in world trade had remained low, and accounted for only about three per cent of world exports. This poor trade performance was partly due to trade protection outside Africa against African products, but it also stemmed from constraints that inhibited trade within Africa. With the expectation of a generally moderate recovery of the global economy and of world trade, it is even more important than before to foster African countries’ trade with economies both outside and inside Africa. This is so because Africa remains one of the poorest continents in the world and its gross domestic products remain one of the lowest. There seems to be no way out.
A recent report by the African Development Bank (AFDB) revealed that a significant decline in Africa’s poverty will require the continent’s GDP to grow at an overall average of 7 per cent. In order to achieve this goal, experts believe it is of paramount importance that Africa’s international trade continues and strengthens its current development. To do this, analysts contended that Africa must make effective use of its oceans and seas. Oceans, seas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the Earth’s ecosystem are critical to sustainable development. They cover more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and contain 97 per cent of the planet’s water. Oceans contribute to poverty eradication by creating sustainable livelihoods and decent work. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods. In addition, oceans are crucial for global food security and human health. They are also the primary regulator of the global climate, an important sink for greenhouse gases and they provide humans water and the oxygen they breathe. Finally, oceans host huge reservoirs of biodiversity.
In order for oceans, seas and marine resources to successfully contribute to human well-being, ecosystem integrity, with properly functioning biogeochemical and physical processes, is required. This does not require unperturbed systems, but systems that have not suffered serious or irreversible harm. Ecosystem integrity allows for the provision of so-called supporting ecosystem services which, in turn, are the bases of important regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services that are of crucial importance for humans. Whereas the benefits provided by oceans, seas and marine resources are important to all people, the poor, indigenous peoples, and vulnerable groups with a high dependency on natural resources and ecosystem services may have their well-being especially tied to these benefits. The link between oceans, seas and marine resources and human well-being is not one-sided. While an increase in human well-being is frequently generated at the cost of ecosystem integrity, it can also potentially reduce the negative anthropocentric impacts on the marine environment, for example due to a more sustainable use of resources, changes in production and consumption patterns and improved management and control of human activities. In order for this to happen, good governance and an enabling environment are however required.
AAMA Takes Charge
To this end, 33 African maritime administrators, under the auspices of the Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA) gathered in Nigeria’s capital Abuja recently to chart a new course on how to make effective use of Africa’s seas and oceans.
The theme of the conference was: “Sustainable Use of Africa’s Oceans and Seas.”
The representatives of the following member administrations attended the conference: Mauritania, South Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Comoros, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Benin, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Kenya, Guinea, Libya and Nigeria.
To achieve inclusive participation in global trade, the maritime administrators in attendance agreed that African countries must have the political will to facilitate trade through: transparency, simplicity of trade documentation and procedures, elimination or reduction of red-tapes (bureaucracy) and adequacy of and implementation of applicable laws.
They also agreed to devote concerted effort and planning to pursue the enhancement of wealth creation, and regional and international trade performance through maritime-centric capacity and capability building.
They pledged to the minimisation of environmental damage and expedited recovery from catastrophic events, prevention of hostile and criminal acts at sea, and coordination/ harmonisation of the prosecution of offenders.
They also agreed to ensure population protection, including assets and critical infrastructure from maritime pollution and prevention of dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, improvement of Integrated Coastal Zone/ Area Management in Africa and promotion of ratification, domestication and implementation of international instruments.
To address the enormous challenges of building human capacities in the maritime sector especially regarding training and employment of cadets, maritime administrations were advised to develop an integrated human resources strategy for the maritime sector to support the provision of skills taking into account gender balance in the entire maritime value chain which includes shipping and logistics, offshore activities, fishing, tourism and recreation, and safety and security (AIMS 2050).
Fiscal Incentives
The administrators urged African government to provide fiscal incentives to attract vessels to their respective ship registry.
According to them, “Governments should adopt the Port State Measures Agreement and to consider taking immediate actions to implement and enforce the measures. Strengthen the legal and governance framework for monitoring and control of fishing activities on a national and regional basis. Governments must develop measures in addition to FAO guidelines to protect our exclusive economic zone and territorial waters from illegal, unlawful unreported fishing by foreign fishing trawlers.
“Members are encouraged to re-enforce regional cooperation and coordination, enhance information sharing and regulatory governance among members to combat the menace of piracy and other maritime crimes while maintaining a balance between security and the facilitation of global trade. AAMA is urged to identify and carry out capacity building exercises for member nations according to their needs.”
The maritime administrators pledged to facilitate the ratification and adoption of the African Maritime Transport Charter and the 2017 Lome Charter.
Recognising the gender policies in the Maputo Protocol, Agenda 2063 and the SDGs etc, the administrators agreed to facilitate the adoption by Maritime Administrations of measures that will incorporate gender mainstreaming in the short, medium and long term strategy of each administration.
To foster economic co-operation between AAMA members, they agreed to develop and adopt Near-Coastal Trading, Certification and Competency Code for mutual recognition of certificates that will reduce/eliminate contentions by Port State Control Inspectors.
IMO Council Seat
In his opening address, President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to ensure that Nigeria achieves its goal of attaining the Category C seat in the Council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
To this end, he stated that Nigeria will promote and support effective African participation in the council of the IMO stressing, however, that this can only yield the desired results when African states speak with one voice at the global level for the enduring interest of Africa.
He identified the need for African countries to join efforts together to preserve the African-rich maritime resources in order to protect sea foods, achieve food security and earn foreign exchange through export of sea foods.
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria has taken steps to tackle some of the challenges peculiar to it while still requiring regional and sub-regional collaboration.
According to him, “We have stepped up engagement to address the disagreement, misunderstanding and contentious issues in the Niger Delta, which is a part of the Gulf of guinea. We recently approved the maritime security architecture and infrastructure to be jointly coordinated by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Ministry of Transport and the National Security Adviser’s Office.
“We are giving required support to the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies with others within our sub region so that we can work effectively to police our water ways for trade to flourish. This arrangement will also contribute to eliminate piracy and sea robbery within our maritime domain. \the results are encouraging and piracy has dropped in the last six months. In the same vein, we are making substantial investment to improve human capacity by
Whereas the benefits provided by oceans, seas and marine resources are important to all people, the poor, indigenous peoples, and vulnerable groups with a high dependency on natural resources and ecosystem services may have their well-being especially tied to these benefits