Bf was in NY at the United Nations Ocean Conference, June 6th 2017
The High Level Conference brought together a variety of players from NGOs to Governments to support the implementation of this SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Bf co-hosted a Side Event, titled: Catalyzing Investments in SDG 14: Establishment of a Strategic Ocean Investment Ecosystem, on June 6th, 2017 alongside the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment (UNEP), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Blue Finance, ARCOWA SA and R20 Regions of Climate Action. The importance of innovative funding mechanisms in the move towards a blue economy, was made early by Mr. Elliott Harris, the Director of UN Environment (NY) in his keynote address and reiterated in the panel presentations that followed. Our project was presented as one of these innovative measures for marine protected areas, alongside other projects dealing with sustainable tourism, wastewater management and low-carbon investments (ARCOWA SA and R20 Regions of Climate Action). The “take home message” was that there are tremendous opportunities for financing of marine conservation activities, which come with different levels of complexities and of course risk. For such projects to be successful, the level of investment must be suited to the project.