Registration of contributions to the work on capacity-building under IPBES: Submission #29

Brief description of contribution The lack of knowledge of blue resources at stake is a major gap hindering the sustainable harnessing
of Blue Economy resources, policy development and implementation on the Blue Economy. As an
example, more than 80 per cent of the oceans remain completely unmapped. This is combined with
an equally poor mapping of freshwater and groundwater resources on the continent. To address
this, ECA has embarked on the development of a Blue Economy valuation toolkit aimed to guide
data collection and analysis for the socio-economic assessment of blue resources, including goods
and services generated; which in turn is expected to provide an accurate snapshot of the potential of
the Blue Economy and to help inform decision-making.
In addition, there is still lack of clear understanding of the concept and multisectoral approach of the
Blue Economy by policy makers and stakeholders. ECA has played an instrumental role in the past
few years in assisting member States and regional bodies in developing their first strategic policy
frameworks using the methodology provided by the Blue Economy Policy Handbook for Africa (ECA
flagship publication).
Countries such as Seychelles have decided to fully focus on the Blue Economy to sustain their
post-Covid19 recovery. Indeed, due to the vastness of its opportunities the Blue Economy repre- sents more and more a very promising outlet to build economies back better, for sustainable growth
within the context of the socio-economic crisis generated by the Covid 19 pandemic.
Hence, there is need to build and develop capacities on the Blue Economy concept, approach,
related policy and valuation tools to raise awareness, disseminate knowledge and enable key players
to apply it through tailor-made assessments as well as policy and regulatory frameworks and action
plans. IDEP in partnership with the Centre for Blue Governance, University of Portsmouth, conside- ring its importance has decided to organize a second edition accommodating the participation of a
Portuguese audience.
This training falls under Cluster 4 (Integrated Natural Resource Management) of the training cata- logue adopted by the Technical Advisory Committee of UNIDEP and endorsed by its governing
council.