11th Meeting of the Monaco Blue Initiative

The 11th edition of the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI) held its second virtual workshop on 9 June 2020. The workshop took place under the theme “Lessons learned from community-led initiatives in the management and preservation of protected areas.”

Delivering a keynote address, Andrés Couve Correa, Minister, Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Chile, shared his country’s experiences in community-led actions in Easter Island, which protect the artisanal fishing practices of the Rapa Nui from commercial fisheries and mining. Preserving people’s way of life, he noted, is key to ensuring the recognition of community rights.

Grethel Aguilar, Acting Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), moderated the panel discussion. During the discussion:

• Divya Karnad, Founder, InSeason Fish, India, highlighted the need to support ecologically determined, rather demand-determined, fish markets to ensure fishers receive benefits from less marketable species during fishing closures in marine protected areas (MPAs);
• Adam Miller, Executive Director, Planet Indonesia, said local engagement and participation should be considered indicators of success, and emphasized local governance structures as key to MPA sustainability;
• Esther Wolfs, Founder, Wolfs Company, Germany, shared experiences working with communities in the Cayman Islands and Bonaire to ensure private investors include natural capital in their business strategies and, thus, ensure mutual benefits;
• Marco Lambertini, Director General, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International, said recognizing the rights of coastal communities is critical to successful MPA management; and
• Haydée Rodriguez Romero, Vice-Minister for Water and Seas, Costa Rica, said marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessments, and nature-based solutions are important when designing blue economy models, and provide a balance between benefits and sustainability.

Participants reflected on the role that continued dialogue on oceans plays in fulfilling the promise of the 2020 “super year” for biodiversity and oceans. Many noted the opportunity presented by MBI dialogues for concrete inputs to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The workshop took place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final virtual meeting of the MBI will convene on 24 June 2020 under the theme, “How to reconcile the blue economy with the sustainable management of oceans in the fields of tourism, transport, energy, fisheries and aquaculture.” The link to register this workshop is here.

The Initiative is implemented by the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco and the Foundation Prince Albert II of Monaco.

IISD has produced a briefing note from this event which is available in HTML and PDF.