The West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) aims to improve the management of shared natural and man-made risks affecting coastal communities in 17 West African countries on the coastline, from Mauritania to Gabon. The WACA program provides countries with access to technical expertise and finance to support the sustainable development of coastal zones, using the management of coastal erosion and hazardous flooding as entry point. The program consists of a series of coastal resilience investment projects (ResIP) and a scale-up Platform. The WACA ResIP was approved by the World Bank in April 2018. The financial package includes $190 million from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and a grant of $20.25 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to initially cover six countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal and Togo). Preparations are underway to start projects in Ghana and Nigeria. WACA works with existing regional institutions, including the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union, the Abidjan Convention, the Center for Ecological Monitoring, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The WACA Platform has three functions: to facilitate and increase access to knowledge, expertise, global good practices, and technical assistance; to leverage and crowd-in financing for coastal resilience investments; and to provide a forum for dialogue to facilitate the involvement of other key partners, including the private sector. Currently, partners in France, Japan, Netherlands, Nordic countries, and Spain are engaged in scaling up the finance needed for coastal resilience through the WACA Finance Marketplace.
In 2022, the World Bank Coastal Fisheries Initiative – Challenge Fund (CFI-CF) launched a competition seek collaborative solutions to reduce overfishing by supporting coordination among fishers and collaboration across seafood value chains. In August, CFI-CF announced the winners of its competition for collaborative solutions to overfishing. They demonstrated the power of collaboration between seafood value chain actors with common goals. The competition sought applicants from Cabo Verde, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Peru who submitted thirty proposals. The four winners and four runners-up outlined original approaches for how their coalitions will reduce overfishing, improve sustainable fishing practices, and increase incomes of fishers and others in value chain. They focus on diverse approaches, tailored to local conditions, such as sustainable product marketing, improved fishing equipment and practices, and supply chain initiatives to build the seafood industry and consumer support. The winning solutions are described on SolutionsToOverfishing.org.
In the Southwest Indian Ocean, Mozambique’s fisheries sector has great growth potential and the ability to boost economic output by providing significantly larger returns and by contributing to poverty alleviation. The Mais Peixe Sustentável project under the SWIOFish Program aims to reduce rural poverty, increase shared prosperity and promote development by encouraging investment in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture value chains. More than a thousand artisanal fisher households have already benefited from the project since its launch in February 2019.
In Vietnam, the World Bank has helped the government understand sources of land-based plastic pollution to inform the implementation of their National Action Plan on the Management of Marine Plastic Litter. In addition, it devised a roadmap that supports the government in phasing out the production, import, and use of certain single-use plastics. The World Bank also supports the implementation of the Action Plan for Marine Plastic Waste Management in the Fisheries Sector. The Bank has conducted investment and reform analysis for solid waste management in selected cities. A joint World Bank and IFC team paved the way for private sector solutions in plastics recycling via value-chain diagnostics and public-private dialogue, and ultimately to catalyze investments.
Indonesia—the world’s largest archipelagic country—is home to rich ocean ecosystems of tremendous economic potential. For over two decades, the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project (COREMAP) has been supporting the government of Indonesia in harnessing the benefits of the blue economy. The initial stages of COREMAP successfully supported communities in taking part in managing their own coastal resources. Now in its third phase, the project is strengthening Indonesia’s ocean research capacity by upgrading laboratories, training scientists, and undertaking nationwide ecosystem monitoring. It is also improving management effectiveness in nationally significant marine protected areas in Raja Ampat, West Papua and Sawu Sea, East Nusa Tenggara, through ecotourism initiatives, community-based surveillance against illegal fishing, and threatened species conservation.
The Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) is working with seven countries and the Pacific regional Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) to support the management of the region’s greatest wealth: the fish stocks of the Pacific Ocean and the environments that support them. PROP consists of both oceanic and coastal fisheries components that support countries to better manage fisheries and habitats to generate export earnings and public revenue from fishing license fees for the country; and to support livelihoods, food security and improve diets. For ocean fisheries, PROP supports work to strengthen the capacity of national and regional fisheries authorities to optimize production and ensure national authorities can gain and maintain access to high value export markets, such as the European Union. PROP also supports work to ensure fish entering the markets are safe and legally caught. This includes work to upskill staff and fund infrastructure for monitoring, control and surveillance of commercial fishing vessels, to ensure their adherence to regulations and fishing license conditions. For coastal fisheries, PROP support includes giving communities the skills to manage coastal fisheries, diversify their income streams, and help get sustainable coastal fish products to regional markets.
The fisheries sector in the Caribbean is a major source of livelihoods and contributes significantly to food security in the region as well as the tourism sector, which many islands depend on. Rapid recovery of the fisheries sector after a disaster is critical for the food security of many communities in the Caribbean. The fishing industry now can count on a parametric insurance product developed specifically for the fisherfolk in the Caribbean by the Caribbean Oceans and Aquaculture Sustainability Facility (COAST). COAST was launched in two countries: Grenada and Saint Lucia. With financial support from the U.S. Department of State and the World Bank, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF SPC), and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) have developed this first ever parametric insurance for the fisheries sector, which is designed to enhance resilience against the impacts of climate-related disasters. This helps build a stronger foundation for the blue economy while supporting the livelihoods of those who depend on this valuable marine natural capital.
Building the foundation for the Blue Economy in the Eastern Caribbean, the Bank approved the Caribbean Regional Oceanscape Project (CROP) in 2017. Financed by GEF, the project strengthened the capacity for ocean governance and coastal and marine geospatial planning in five countries of the Eastern Caribbean: Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. More specifically, the project helped strengthen ocean governance through: (a) development of coastal and marine spatial plans and associated training, (b) development of national and regional ocean strategies and policies, (c) strengthening knowledge and capacity of public, private, and civil society sectors by expanding access to ocean data and ocean education with innovative tools for decision making, and (d) supporting an investor roundtable to forge new partnerships and raise interest in investing in countries’ transition to a blue economy. The project produced an impressive array of ocean education materials and ocean data to support decision making in the region. Thanks to CROP, a new US$60 million series of projects “Unleashing the Blue Economy of the Caribbean (UBEC)”, financed by IDA and PROBLUE, has been designed to advance the Blue Economy agenda across the region.
Lastly, an example from Europe where, in Romania, the Integrated Nutrient Pollution Control Project (INPCP) supports meeting the EU Nitrates Directive requirements by reducing nutrient discharges to water bodies, promoting behavioral change at the communal/regional level, and strengthening institutional and regulatory capacity.
Last Updated: Apr 03, 2024