CAF at COP 27 - CAF’s vision for the ocean and the blue economy in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the context of COP27, we invite you to participate in this CAF event, which aims to provide an relevant space to present, share and get feedback from key stakeholders in the participatory process for the design of CAF’s Ocean Vision and Blue Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

CAF believes that the main contribution of the environmental component of sustainable development is the acknowledgement of preservation and sustainable use of the region’s biological assets. This sustainability in the type of development being proposed is reflected in the main components of its Green Agenda, and in its path towards becoming the green and blue bank of Latin America.

Similarly, CAF acknowledges that the environmental component is paramount for the productive transformation of the region, and also advances and supports the creation and expansion of the productive value of natural capital, as well as the development of emerging environmental markets and the improvement of the environmental management of businesses and productive sectors.

As understanding of biodiversity and the ocean evolves, it is widely agreed that biodiversity creates significant socioeconomic value by providing goods and services that underpin or influence almost every product or service on earth. Ocean biodiversity plays a pivotal role in food supply, climate regulation, fresh air supply, carbon sequestration and natural protection against environmental degradation.

The evolving understanding of the ocean and the services it provides is changing the outlook and the reasons why ocean biodiversity should be considered an asset, and the explanation of why promoting the preservation and sustainable use of ocean biodiversity is relevant for reasons that transcend biology.

CAF is evolving towards becoming the Green Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, and to this end, among other goals, it plans to earmark USD 25 billion in direct financing for green operations over the next five years. Meanwhile, CAF is also aware that being green means also being blue, and therefore, it announced at the United Nations Ocean Conference in July 2022 that it will allocate at least USD 1.25 billion in 2022–2026 in direct financing for projects in the seas and coastal and oceanic areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Given the current trends leading to greater awareness and willingness to pursue multilateral collaboration agreements aimed at underpinning biodiversity preservation worldwide, and the important momentum to rethink policies and practices based on widely shared concerns for ocean biodiversity preservation, it is in CAF’s interest to come up with a strategic vision for Oceans in Latin America and the Caribbean that is in line with CAF’s Green Bank Vision, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the emerging 2020 Global Post-Biodiversity Framework, the Paris Agreement and other regional and international trends, which are causes of great concern for CAF and its member countries.

Date: Monday, November 14, 2022

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm