R i s k a n d r e s i l i e n c e Renewable energy and extractives Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2014/15 129 at our oceanic space from the point of view that we want to plan long-term how we are going to engage with this space and set up strategies which will give everybody a chance to develop oceanic space in a sustainable way. This will mean working with coastal communities, it will mean working with industrial fishing and it will mean working as well with those who have a conservation agenda and trying to reconcile these, often very conflicting, viewpoints on how the ocean should be used. So how have we done this? How have we started? We started this with the Commonwealth. First of all, we are receiving technical assistance from the Commonwealth to look at ocean-orientated development, and this starts with a desktop analysis of all of the areas that are potentially available for development within a country such as Seychelles, keeping in mind that Seychelles has a land area of 454 km2, but we have an oceanic EEZ of 1.3M km2. To put that in context, that’s about 2.5 times the size of Germany. There are many states that have EEZs that are many millions of km2 – we are always going to be small if we talk about land, but we can be very big and have a lot of impact when looking at oceans. One marine resource that is relatively untapped in Seychelles is seagrass. We believe there is a large potential for seagrass as a resource. One example would be seaweed: as a food resource, but in certain cases as an energy resource, and also it can be used for other applications in agriculture. I also learnt that seaweed is very important in the pharmaceuticals industry. So the idea is very much to look at the resources from the ocean in a new way and look at new perspectives. In Seychelles we have already committed 30 per cent of our EEZ to be designated as a marine reserve under the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, we are being very careful; we are taking our time to assess what the best areas are that can be so designated. The best approach is to factor in that which you may wish to adapt in the future, but also to stick to certain targets. So that means that if we are committing 30 per cent of our EEZ we should stick to that target, but we should be flexible as to where this should be done based on the information available and on the best impact. Eco-tourism potential is part of that impact assessment. For example, in Seychelles we have partially protected the shark, but we allow local fishermen to fish it. By way of conclusion, the climate change issue is obviously an existential one for island states. The oceans are a source of risk in terms of climate change because of the acidification that comes from carbon absorption, but there are increasing opportunities to mitigate or adapt better to climate change in relation to global solutions. In the particular context of Seychelles, one innovation that we have been proposing is what is called ‘debt for adaptation swaps’, which essentially involves agreeing certain areas that can be designated as marine protected areas, having a value allocated for that area, and getting trust funds set up that allow us to have debt forgiveness from countries that are our creditors. This would give us the policy space to be able to implement other climate change projects using our own funds. Many SIDS face high debts. In Seychelles we have managed to reduce the debt to GDP ratio to 71 per cent (from 183 per cent in 2008), but we still need more policy space because even at this level, in the current framework, it is very difficult to raise funding from international markets. Further, middle income SIDS like Seychelles do not receive concessionary funding. We need to reduce our debt and we need innovative solutions to be able to give us the policy space that is necessary for the blue economy. Conclusion In conclusion, the side event underlined the importance of several key principles in marine governance for the blue economy. These include eco-system based adaptation; participatory governance; collective organisation of fishermen; community empowerment; sharing best practice and building a data and knowledge repository to support this. It also highlighted the key role the Commonwealth has had, and is having, at the level of individual states and pilot studies, but where there is great potential for scaling up, while leaving leadership and initiative at the national level. At the level of individual nation states, there are big differences in capacity, but the leadership is there, exemplified by Seychelles’ initiative in promoting the blue economy, and the partnership in this with the Commonwealth. The promise of co-operation between nations and between regional organisations across the Caribbean, Pacific and Africa, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea (AIMS) regions would be welcomed by SIDS. The inclusion of a separate oceans goal in the SDGs, coupled with the promise of a Commonwealth strategy for small states that includes the blue economy, gives the Commonwealth an opportunity to make a major contribution to implementation of the UN post-2015 agenda for small states and ocean governance. This could find expression in a side event at the Malta CHOGM that addresses these issues and shares best practice across the Commonwealth, building on lessons from the post-2015 process. Renewable energy is very important for SIDS, but in a small country like Seychelles one of the big challenges is that although there is plenty of sun and wind, there is nowhere to put wind turbines or solar panels. Many feasibility studies have shown that the best place for wind turbines in Seychelles is offshore, but there is then the issue of how to get energy from the turbine to the shore at an affordable cost. However, there are many emerging technologies that focus on energy from the ocean that are well worth exploring, including energy from differential temperatures in the ocean; wave and tidal energy; and the use of deep ocean temperature for air conditioning. Existing prototypes are not yet commercially applicable but it is important to begin planning in this direction. In relation to minerals below the sea floor, Seychelles is a country that is committed to conservation; the government is concerned by the idea that tapping into those resources would not be sustainable. The key problem that exists for SIDS is the availability of objective data. If we take the example of fisheries, SIDS are faced with negotiating fisheries agreements with distant fishing nations (DFNs) – all data comes from nations that come to fish. There is no objectivity in that kind of data. One of the key things that the Commonwealth can bring is objective data. Jean-Paul Adam
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