CAF presents 10 lines of action to protect Latin America and Caribbean oceans

During the Our Ocean 2023 Conference, held in Panama, CAF—development bank of Latin America—presented a document with ten key points to preserve the health of the region’s oceans, in an attempt to promote protection of marine ecosystems, strengthen commercial fabrics and improve the living conditions of local communities that live off the seas.

The document was prepared by Varda Group, and will serve as a white paper for CAF’s ocean strategy and is part of the institution’s commitment to become the green bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, materialized in green investments totaling USD 25 billion in the coming years, of which USD 1.25 billion will go towards projects that promote the blue economy, with emphasis on the restoration of marine and coastal environments, blue carbon, renewable marine energy, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

Below are the ten lines of action proposed by CAF to preserve the health of the oceans:

• Building bridges and creating synergies with global ocean conservation and sustainability agencies, in order to share knowledge and experiences.
• Increasing the funds available to attain the SDG14 targets in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a view to catalyzing new financial resources. CAF will contribute USD 1.25 billion.
• Incorporating the blue-green component in all CAF’s operational criteria and prioritizing projects that favor decarbonization of the economy.
• Fostering the creation of an enabling environment that help attain GBF goals.
• Supporting the design of ocean and coastal sustainability plans by 2030 within the exclusive economic zones of member countries of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
• Reinforcing CAF’s structure to implement the Strategic Proposal for the Ocean and the Sustainable Blue Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Supporting new financial mechanisms for ocean projects, in order to support leverage in marine-coastal areas in a sustainable manner.
• Conducting training events to devise sustainable ocean plans in accordance with the goal of 100% sustainable management within the jurisdictional waters of the countries.
• Coordinating with the Permanent Secretariat of the signatory countries of the Declaration of the Americas for the Ocean, in order to ensure compliance with the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in Montreal in December 2022.
• CAF’s acceptance of the Global Coral Reef Fund’s invitation to join extended during the CBD COP15 in Montreal in December 2022, represents an opportunity to advance the protection and comprehensive recovery of coral reefs, home to 25% of marine biodiversity as one of the measurable pillars of CAF.

CAF Ocean Strategy

As part of its efforts to become the green bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and a leading agency for ocean protection, CAF is holding a series of meetings with the main global stakeholders to design a cutting-edge strategy to accelerate climate action in the region and to demonstrate that Latin America and the Caribbean must necessarily be involved in the solutions to preserve oceans and to mitigate the effects of global warming.

In this connection, important players such as Rémi Parmentier, director of the Varda Group and one of the original founders of Greenpeace, have outlined the main lines of work on which CAF’s new ocean strategy could focus. His proposal focuses on accelerating the attainment of the targets of SDG 14, on creating partnerships between the public, private sectors, philanthropy and civil society, on unifying climate action with (green and blue) ocean action and on supporting projects that facilitate the decarbonization of the economy and favor energy efficiency and the development of clean renewable energies.

Parmentier presented a list of actions eligible for funding based on the five clusters of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy:

• Ocean Wealth
• Ocean Health
• Ocean Equity
• Ocean Knowledge
• Ocean Financing