Africa-Press – Seychelles. The former President of Seychelles and the founder and chairman of the Danny Faure Foundation, Danny Faure, delivered a keynote address at the ‘The Great Blue Wall – Accelerating Ocean Conservation and Regenerative Economic Development in the Western Indian Ocean’ side event, held in the margins of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
The event was co-hosted by the government of Seychelles, IUCN, the Danny Faure Foundation, NEKTON, UNECA, High Level Climate Champions, WIOMSA and Blue Forest.
Former President Faure’s address focused on the ‘Western Indian Ocean Resilience and Prosperity Initiative’ (WIO-RPI), a regional initiative that is being co-led by the government of Seychelles, the Nairobi Convention, NEKTON and the Foundation.
He reiterated that a prosperous and resilient Western Indian Ocean is essential to ensure sustainable economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance food security and strengthen resilience to climate change consequences.
The WIO-RPI was endorsed by the Conference of Parties (COP 10) of the Nairobi Convention in November 2021 where all ten nations of the western Indian Ocean unanimously agreed to the co-creation of an ambitious new regional ocean policy. The main objective of the initiative is to co-create an ambitious new regional ocean policy along with an initial five strategies to support sustainable ocean development underpinned by science-based management.
Former President Faure applauded existing regional initiatives in the region by different organisations as well as those being run under the auspices of the UN’s Regional Seas Programme, the Nairobi Convention.
He also called on all organisations, potential partners, and local communities to become stewards of the ocean and to work together towards a better vision of a more resilient and prosperous Western Indian Ocean through initiatives like the Great Blue Wall and the WIO-RPI.
The IUCN and the WIO-RPI partners have agreed to collaborate in the process towards the implementation of both initiatives.
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