01 Jun 2020 | Deep Dive Workshop at Virtual Ocean Dialogues, World Economic Forum Finance and the Sustainable Blue Economy

A Deep Dive Online workshop titled “Mobilising Capital for Nature-Based Solutions – Fighting Paper Parks with Public-Private Partnerships for MPAs” was held on 1 June 2020 during the World Economic Forum ‘s Virtual Ocean Dialogues event.

Worldwide, 65% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are estimated to have inadequate management budgets and 91% to have inadequate staff capacity. Some governments have addressed a lack funding for protected areas — both individual parks and national networks — by establishing ‘collaborative management’ arrangements with private partners (mainly non-profit enterprises, NGOs and community groups. Impact investment is growing rapidly as private investors seek positive, measurable social and environmental gains alongside financial returns. Governments engaged in collaborative management partnerships can improve the management of their MPAs and improve their access to blended finance for marine conservation with reduced financial risk, while retaining core functions.

Social enterprise Blue finance aims to design, finance and implement collaborative management partnerships for MPAs that can attract and scale up impact investment. Blue finance has implemented an impact investment solution for the sustainable use of 800,000ha of marine resources in the Dominican Republic through the effective management of one of the largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean. This session l showcased lessons learnt from this currently funded MPAs, as well as provide new insights into on-going projects. Participants will hear of the financing model’s necessary precautions and governance, its limiting factors – but also its potential to scale finance for marine conservation.

The objectives of the workshop was to  inform of the potential of PPP (Public-Private Partnerships ) for the active management and blended financing of MPAs with participants from Ministry of Environment., Finance, Economy, fishery and other NGOs and thinktanks.

Dr Enki Tan, Board Member of Conservation International and Exec Chairman of GITI Group presented the Blue Halo S Concept- Sustainable Fisheries Conservation and Financing, which pairs blue concession to Marine Protected areas for sustainable fisheries management which has been approved by Indonesia Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) to develop prototypes across several regions in the Indonesia ocean.