Countries, like the Seychelles and Belize, with coastal blue carbon ecosystems are increasingly looking to the ocean for climate change and business solutions. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya, Dec 22 2021 (IPS)

Seychelles’ 115 islands are an exotic ocean ecosystem of beaches, coral reefs, and unique plant and animal species. Concerned with the impacts of climate change, the country has committed to decarbonize by 2050.

As climate change threatens food security, livelihoods, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, countries with coastal blue carbon ecosystems are increasingly looking into the ocean for climate change and business solutions.

Angelique Pouponneau, CEO, Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust, says for these countries, “the blue economy, sectors dependent on healthy marine and coastal resources, is at the heart of their updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submissions.”

Under the Paris Agreement, countries revise their NDCs every five years to cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit the earth’s temperature rise and commit to implementing solutions to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Seychelles made a most ambitious commitment in its NDC to decarbonize its economy entirely by 2050, making it one of the few developing countries to do so.

“Seychelles developed a national blue economy road map anchored on identifying sectors of the blue economy industry that can generate wealth and sustainable management of marine resources. Priority areas include aquaculture to help build resilience among local communities and accelerate sustainable development,” says Pouponneau in an interview with IPS, adding that sustainable fishing and building ocean-based enterprises are crucial to the success of this Indian Ocean archipelago.

“Building ocean-based enterprises, providing a regulatory framework for sustainable businesses, and financing research and development activities are the three pillars of the blue economy roadmap.”

Seychelles launched the world’s first sovereign blue bond in 2018. The blue bond, Pouponneau says, is an innovative financial tool to support sustainable marine and fisheries start-ups and SMEs and the key to unlocking ocean-based sustainable business.

According to the Seychelles government, the bond is a pioneering financial instrument that raised US$15 million from international investors. The success of the bond demonstrates the potential for countries to harness capital markets for financing the sustainable use of marine resources.

Similarly, as part of the Nature Conservancy’s Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation program, Belize signed a Conservation Funding Agreement, also known as the Blue Bond.

“Our Blue Bond is similar to Seychelles’. However, Belize’s is larger and has a more comprehensive set of targets,” Beverly Wade, the Policy and Planning Advisor in the Ministry of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation, tells IPS.

“The bond establishes a Conservation Fund of USD 180 million, to be accessed over 20 years, to support the implementation of coastal and marine conservation projects by government and non-governmental partners.”
Wade, a representative on the Belize National Climate Change Committee, says the ministry is finalizing the framework for Blue Economy for the South American country.

“This is a five-year multisectoral policy, strategy, and plan. Belize is one of the countries in the Mesoamerican Reef region involved in the Smart Coasts Project that promotes ecosystem-based adaptation and climate smarting of Marine Protected Areas and Coastal Development Plans,” she tells IPS.

Belize, a leader in marine spatial planning and habitat mapping, has updated Marine Habitat Map by processing satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to classify critical marine habitats such as seagrass and corals.

The Blue Bond, she says, will facilitate the completion of a comprehensive Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) for Belize’s entire Blue Space, an urban design term for visible water.

Overall, 163 nations have submitted their NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the NDC Partnership.

The NDC Partnership is a global initiative to help countries achieve their national climate commitments through financial and technical assistance through the Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP).

The Partnership supports countries with a coastal blue carbon ecosystem to “enhance the quality, increase the ambition, and implement NDCs, every five years since the first round of NDC were submitted in 2016. With a footprint across 62 member countries and nine institutional partners since October 2017, the NDC Partnership holds significant experience, resources, and expertise to ensure that countries achieve NDC objectives.

This support is timely and critical. World Bank data shows the global ocean economy is valued at an estimated $1.5 trillion per year. Approximately 80 percent of international trade by volume is carried by sea, and an estimated 350 million jobs across the globe are linked to fisheries.

The report, NDCs-A Force for Nature? notes that 105 out of 114 updated NDCs submitted by October 12, 2021, included nature-based solutions in their roadmap to limit global warming.

Through CAEP, launched in 2019 with the technical and financial support of 46 partners, the NDC Partnership is currently supporting 67 countries to submit enhanced NDCs and fast-track their implementation.

The CAEP aims to catalyze change towards resilient, sustainable, and low-emission development, supporting the objectives of the Paris Agreement for member countries of the NDC Partnership. It also assists developing member countries in enhancing NDCs and fast-tracking their implementation, including providing in-country technical expertise and capacity building.

The NDC policy commitment, Pouponneau says, is a “robust, realistic, measurable and achievable yardstick against which Seychelles is evaluating its progress towards climate change resilience and sustainable development.”

“NDCs are a planning, finance and resource mobilization and accountability tool. And there is a commitment right from grassroots to the international level to achieve set targets.”

Wade agrees. She explains that through the NDC updating process, the National Climate Change Office, with support from the World Wildlife Fund and PEW Charitable Trusts, a National Blue Carbon Working Group was established.

“The group provided oversight for the research activities conducted in support of establishing realistic mangrove mitigation and adaptation targets for the updated NDC,” she says.

“The NDC also identifies concrete targeted actions to meet these obligations. And provides a space for bringing together planned and ongoing activities from existing national strategies as well as plans for target achievement.”

Both local communities and most of the Seychelles’ urban areas and infrastructure are concentrated next to the shore; therefore, the country’s economic activity relies on the sustainable management of marine resources.

“The blue economy’s primary challenge is the lack of understanding between the use of ocean-based resources, climate change resilience, and sustainable development. There is a need to educate local communities on why it is no longer business as usual,” Pouponneau says. “This education will go hand in hand with financial incentives to help local communities use ocean resources sustainably.”

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Solar water heaters on top of buildings are found across Jordan. The country has embarked upon a climate-responsive economy recovery and a new growth trajectory strategy. Photo Credit: NDC Partnership

By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, Sep 24 2021 (IPS)

For the first time in decades, Jordan’s economy contracted in 2020. COVID-19 took a heavy toll on the economy, and it was concerning for the country, particularly because Jordan had managed to grow at an average rate of 2%, despite regional and international shocks to its economy amounting to 44% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the past decade.

In 2020 GDP contracted 3.5% YOY, with a projected rebound towards the middle of 2021. The unemployment rate in Jordan increased to 22.7% of the labor force in 2020 from 19.1% a year earlier. It is the highest jobless rate since at least 2005.

The Government of Jordan (GoJ), in light of COVID-19, has taken steps to respond to both the health and economic risks associated with the pandemic. Both are said to be of concern because some of the pandemic restrictions continue to extend into 2021, and economic recovery could be stalled.

One of the key solutions that Jordan has readily embarked on is a climate-responsive recovery and a new growth trajectory strategy. Jordan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on climate change is one of the key platforms through which it hopes to achieve its green development measures.

“Jordan’s climate-responsive and green economy framework focuses on several key sectors: water, waste management, energy, agriculture, tourism, and transport, in addition to health as a key adaptation sector,” says Lamia S. Al-Zoa’bi, Director of Development Plans and Programs in Jordan’s Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) in an interview given to IPS News.

“In Jordan, the focus is on a climate-responsive, green recovery that can create jobs and economic transformation (JET), through a focus on public/private investments and climate finance,” says Al-Zoa’bi.

The climate action planning adopted a comprehensive set of strategic climate responses, including Jordan’s initial Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) in 2015, followed by its first NDC in 2016. Building on these efforts, and in collaboration with national and internal stakeholders, the country launched its NDC Action Plan with priority projects in 2020, with support from the NDC Partnership.

The Ministry of Environment, with support from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), launched the Green Growth National Action Place (GG-NAPs) 2021-2025, which are mainly medium-term implementation plans. A majority of actions in the GG-NAPs are climate responsive and aligned with NDCs, which have a longer time frame for implementation until 2030. Through the Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP), Jordan conducted a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for 35 priority climate actions contributing to the implementation of Jordan’s NDC as previously identified by Sectoral Working Groups jointly with a climate finance strategy.

Earlier in June 2021, The World Bank Group approved a US$500 million program to catalyze public and private investments in Jordan for a green and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this statement, World Bank Group’s Mashreq Regional Director, Saroj Kumar Jha says, “Jordan has been one of the most active and pioneering countries in the region in ratifying and adopting international climate change initiatives, including the Paris Agreement. Jordan can now capitalize on these efforts to become an attractive destination for green and climate-related investments.”

The Inclusive, Transparent and Climate Responsive Investments is part of the US$1.1 billion recently announced for Program-for-Results (PforR), through combined loans and grants, financing support from the World Bank Group and other international partners to support Jordan in responding to the pandemic and promoting an early, climate-resilient, and inclusive recovery.

According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme, the Mediterranean region, which is home to several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has been described as a ‘climate change hotspot’. According to the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan, climate-related hazards, such as extreme temperature droughts, flash floods, and storms, affect Jordan. These hazards are increasing in frequency and intensity over the years due to climate change.

Jordan, however, positioned itself well ahead in tackling these issues by advancing its climate policy framework under the Paris Agreement, which it ratified in 2016. Jordan was amongst the first countries to launch a Climate Change Policy in 2013 and has consistently issued its national communications under the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC).

Ahead of COP26, Jordan is updating its NDC, building on a prioritization exercise conducted in 2020 in five key sectors as part of its engagement with the NDC Partnership. “The NDC Action Plan seeks to scale renewables and energy-efficient measures, adapt water, agriculture and health sectors to climate impacts, and strengthen the resilience of disadvantaged groups and vulnerable ecosystems,” says Al-Zoa’bi.

So far, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for reducing GHG emissions and potential climate impacts have been conducted for 35 prioritized NDC actions.

“Generating new jobs while maintaining social protection is one of the main short-to-medium-term priorities, given the record unemployment that comprises almost 25% of the labor force. While existing jobs are under pressure from the tourism sector fallout, the path to recovery in international arrivals is uncertain. Increasing tax revenue is an important outcome, as both current and projected fiscal deficit levels require new sources of tax income. All of these are seen to be drivers for green recovery in Jordan,” Al-Zoa’bi says.

Jordan’s green growth pathway aims to provide substantial benefits for the country’s economy, people, and environment. This includes plans for reducing dependency on fuel imports through transformations in the transport sector. This helps to mitigate uncertain and exogenous economic shocks arising from volatility in fossil fuel prices and physical interruption supplies.

According to the Jordan Sustainable Consumption and Production National Action Plan 2016-2025, the combination of green growth and sustainable consumption and production efforts in energy, transport, water, agriculture, waste, and tourism has the potential to attract sustainable green investments amounting to 1.3 billion U.S dollars and create 51,000 new jobs over ten years.

“Jordan is updating its first NDC by raising its macroeconomic GHG emission reduction target, this forthcoming updated NDC with higher climate ambition aims at driving Jordan’s post-COVID-19 recovery process into a lower carbon and more climate-resilient development pathway steered by national green growth priorities while fully committing to the provisions of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement,” concludes Al-Zoa’bi.

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