Blue Economy - Are African Small Islands Ready to Embrace the Opportunities?

African SIDS Context

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are small-island or coastal countries located in the tropical and subtropical regions (partly) surrounded by oceans. SIDS are considered a separate group by the UN based on their specific characteristics such as small size, insularity and remoteness. They are regarded as highly vulnerable due to their social, economic and geographical characteristics.

Despite SIDS common characteristics, they are by no means homogenous, varying by geography, physical, climatic, social, political, cultural, and ethnic character as well as level of economic development (Nurse et al. 2001). African SIDS (Cape Verde, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, São Tomé and Principe, and Seychelles) represent 6 SIDS of nine under the header Atlantic, Indian, Mediterranean and South China Sea (AIMS). African SIDS are few in number and therefore tend to be overlooked in the predominant literature on SIDS in relation to economic vulnerability, climate change vulnerability and recently in the Blue Economy literature. This reports aims to fill this gap in knowledge by addressing the potentials and constraints of the Blue Economy in African SIDS. Blue Economy could be used to help develop African SIDS and counter challenges they face.

Vulnerabilities

SIDS are considered economically vulnerable due to heavy reliance on a limited number of natural resources, high dependency on imports and global markets; and geopolitical weakness. African SIDS are in addition particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR) in comparison to other country groups. Economically, African SIDS public debt (as percentage of GDP) is quite high in comparison to Pacific SIDS and other coastal nations, while their remittances as % of GDP is very low. Official aid as percentage of GDP is also much lower than Pacific SIDS, though higher than Caribbean SIDS. GDP per capita is low, and so is the absolute FDI.

The Blue Economy (BE)

The Blue economy is a result of a push by coastal nations during the Rio +20 process for a flavour of the Green Economy that better applies to them. The Blue Economy advocates the same desired outcome as the Green Economy namely: "improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities" (UNEP 2013). At the core of the Blue Economy is the de-coupling of socioeconomic development from environmental degradation.

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