Over
the past decade there's been a steady rise across Africa in the
attention given to the responsible use of the oceans to contribute to
economic growth -- or what's known as the Blue Economy.
The opportunities around Africa's blue economies are enormous with significant potential to create jobs and improve livelihoods.
But
what's often missing in debates are issues of governance and security.
Five themes are particularly important to ensure both: safety and
security, rule of law and transparency, respect for human rights,
sustainable economic opportunity and human development.
Neglecting
these issues will hamper the potential growth promised by Africa's
oceans. Africa's vast coastline hosts a maritime industry estimated at $1 trillion per year. This is only scratching the surface.
Africa
has 38 coastal states and a number of island states like Cape Verde,
Sao Tomé and Principe, Mauritius, Seychelles and the Comoros.
Collectively African coastal and island states encompass vast ocean
territories of an estimated 13 million km².
Coastal states such as Senegal could earn far more from their marine resources.
The
Seychelles, for example, has 1.3 million km² of ocean territory that
remains largely underdeveloped. Somalia has the longest coastline in
Africa (approximately 3,000 km) and claims ocean territory stretching
about 120 km off shore. Most is weakly governed.
Many
African countries are failing to ensure safe and secure conditions for
those working and living off the oceans. Tracts of the sea off East,
West and North Africa are often labeled lawless.
Illegal fishing, sea piracy and armed robbery, drug and human smuggling
have assumed staggering proportions. Capping this is the rise in illegal migration.
For
this to change, diverse actors need to start cooperating across
national boundaries to secure and use ocean territories. It has become
common knowledge that individual states can do little on their own. The
solution of cooperation is simple but difficult to sell to a critical
mass of African governments that are often suspicious of collective
agendas.
Dealing with problems such as piracy will require more co-ordination between states.
Hot spots
Failure to ensure that ocean territories are secure promotes ungoverned spaces which criminals exploit. At worst, neglected maritime spaces benefit insurgents and terrorists as is obvious in Libya, Somalia and Nigeria.
Africa
has had to contend with three volatile oceanic regions where
criminality makes it impossible for countries to realise the potential
of their oceans. These are the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Guinea and
the waters of the Mediterranean to the north of Libya.
A
common denominator in the three hubs is that countries on these coasts
have failed to make the areas safe. This has opened the door to criminal
actors. A recent Greenpeace report found that the west African region
loses about $2 billion to illegal fishing.
West African economies lose around $2 billion a year to illegal fishing.
Most
African countries are keenly aware of both the ocean's potential as
well as the threats to this potential. A number of initiatives point to
this. These include:
- The African Union's 2012 Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050 which recognizes and encourages the importance of African countries paying greater attention to their maritime interests.
- The recently agreed Lomé Charter -- a continental effort to encourage and coordinate efforts by African states to attend to maritime security, safety and development.
- The Yaoundé Code of Conduct for West Africa which maps out an inter-regional set of responsibility zones to oversee and facilitate responses to growing criminality in the Gulf of Guinea.
- An increase in the presence of international naval capabilities off the Horn of Africa to stem the piracy tide off Somalia. This was complemented by the Djibouti Code of Conduct that enabled East African intervention to counter piracy threats. The code has been extended to include other maritime crimes.
- At national level the Seychelles' government has set the tone with its explicit focus on the importance of the blue economy. A National Blue Economy Roadmap aims to advance economic diversification, unlock investments and address food security.
Although
the approach taken by the Seychelles seems obvious given its dependence
on the surrounding oceans, the connection is just as important for
Africa's other 38 coastal states.
South
Africa runs a host of maritime initiatives to tap into the blue
economy. The country recently adopted a policy -- called Operation
Phakisa aimed at four priority areas: marine transport and
manufacturing, offshore oil and gas exploration, aquaculture and marine
protection services.
Despite all these initiatives a great deal still needs to be done. The most important are around governance and security.
The government of Seychelles has played a leading role in efforts to improve governance on marine issues.
Stemming the criminal tide
Unfortunately well networked actors threatening the security of African waters are growing at an alarming rate.
African
countries could address this by, in the first instance, ensuring that
their national laws are aligned with the United Nation's treaty aimed at
ocean safety.
Secondly,
they need to start working together. It's clear that single countries
can do very little on their own. They need to sign up to multilateral
initiatives. A growing network of collective maritime security is key to
harnessing the Blue Economy.
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