Blue Economy: Sharing Success Stories to Inspire Change

Sharing Success Stories to Inspire Change Blue Economy

TheWay Forwardand Lessons Learned The Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, with the help of The Prince of Wales’ International SustainabilityUnit, is alsoexploring the concept of green bonds and options for applying them to Seychelles – particularly with a view to financing sustainable national projects in the following sectors: fisheries management, aquaculture and seafood value addition. Lessons learned include the importance of building broad-based support for sustainable development, as well as ensuring that potential up-front sacrifices are viewed as being “worth it”, and giving information at the right time

to the right people. Identified needs for the future include actions that build trust-based relationships between a wide variety of stakeholders. Following proposals for ‘sustainable zones for fisheries’, representatives from the fishing industry reported, “We don’t want 30 per cent of our EEZ classified as sustainable in terms of fisheries, our objective is 100 per cent.... find another terminology…”. This sentiment provides a strong indication of future success for the future of the Blue Economy. A representative from the MSP Steering Committee stated: “It is too soon to evaluate and learn lessons fromtheBlueEconomybecauseweare still developing it, but it is definitely a step forward for sustainable development and resilience.”

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