October 11, 2021 (DJIBOUTI, Djibouti): The Director of the Agriculture and Environment Division, Mohamed Moussa, representing the Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) inaugurated a workshop to launch an IGAD ‘Blue Economy’ project at the Sheraton Hotel in Djibouti.
The participants came from the 4 IGAD member states IGAD Member States (Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan) where this IGAD Blue Economy Project is to be implemented the coming three years with the financial support from Sweden. Regional Organizations such as Africa Union and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other development partners also participated in the workshop. The inception workshop is combination of physical and virtual.
In his opening speech, Mr Mohamed Moussa, after thanking the many participants for their presence, also thanked Sweden took the “opportunity to thank the Government of Sweden for all the support provided to IGAD regional programmes and projects, and particularly for funding this first IGAD Blue Economy project.”
Mr Mohamed Moussa closed his speech by reaffirming the importance that IGAD attaches to the biodiversity sector and its preservation. “I want to inform you that Blue Economy and Biodiversity is the top priority of IGAD and this is reflected well in the IGAD Regional Strategy 2021-2025. I would like to assure you that IGAD is committed to provide all the necessary support for the effective and timely implementation of this project”.
The objectives of the meeting are:
- To introduce the project and present project operational work plans and implementation arrangements
- To engage with participants to share knowledge and identify further potential for synergies or collaboration, with the aim of maximising the potential of achieving
project objectives while aligning with national and regional priorities.
The expected outcomes of the workshop are:
- A shared understanding of the objectives, activities and implementation arrangements for the project
- Potential synergy on-going regional and national projects on blue economy and related
Background
IGAD signed a project (enhancing blue economy in the IGAD coastal member states for biodiversity conservations and livelihood diversification) aimed at promoting Blue Economy with funding from Sweden. The project will be implemented within three years in the four IGAD coastal Member Countries: Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan.
The main objectives of the project include:
- improve the governance of the Blue Economy in the IGAD region;
- conduct marine biodiversity situation analyses;
- develop/adopt tools for Blue Economy valuation;
- make inventory of chemical and plastic pollutants from source to sea;
- assess the impact of pollution (Plastic and chemical) and develop mitigation measures on aquatic biodiversity and ecosystems;
- develop and apply tools to monitor and mitigate chemical and plastic pollutions in the concerned coastal member
The project will include implementation of the IGAD BE Strategy, capacity building
activities, analysis and exchange, as well as demonstration of activities in pilot sites, supporting all the participating countries in developing and applying best practice for linking management of biodiversity and related coastal ecosystems and livelihoods diversification.