The need for significantly increased investment to achieve the targets under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 14 Life below water, is well understood. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) cites a $2.5-trillion gap in investments required to fully realize the SDGs, and it’s unlikely that all of this financing will come from the government and donor support.
Private-sector investment has a critical role to play in achieving the targets, with an opportunity to redirect billions of dollars of capital away from unsustainable investment toward sustainable, blue economy investments in East Asia.
To address this need and opportunity, a number of new funds and investment facilities are emerging to focus on investing in sustainable development of oceans, in sectors including sustainable fisheries, marine pollution and coastal tourism. However, investors often face challenges in sourcing projects that can support the SDGs while offering viable investment models.
The potential of effective public-private partnership for coastal and ocean management has been discussed for some time, but the reality of forging concrete, value-added partnerships has in many cases remained elusive.
Companies can struggle to move beyond mere compliance or approaches that are disconnected from their core business, while public institutions and local governments may wonder how to best engage with the private sector in ways that achieve their goals while adding value that incentivizes companies to partner.
The global and regional experts will converge on November 28 at the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (Pemsea) Congress 2018 in Iloilo City, as they explore emerging investment models and opportunities to catalyze both public and private financing to build a pipeline of opportunities unlocking the ocean investment potential in the region.
Speakers include Circulate Capital, an investment management firm raising $90 million in funding to combat ocean plastic, along with other organizations developing innovative models for investment in marine protection and tourism, sustainable aquaculture, coastal habitats and wastewater. This include the Asian Development Bank, Blue finance, Blueyou, the Meloy Fund, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility and Capital 4 Development.
Arcowa, which advises on the use of green and gray infrastructure to manage water resources and marine environments, will share findings from recently released reports developed in collaboration with Pemsea on investing in wastewater treatment and new opportunities for extracting water, energy and nutrients from wastewater streams in the Philippines and Indonesia.
A second session on November 28 will examine the role of business and its needs and expectations for collaborative coastal and ocean management. Building on insights from recent research on developing a sustainable business road map for oceans for the region, panelists from Coca-Cola, Ten Knots Group/El Nido Resorts, Zoological Society of London and Meliomar Seafood Co. will share their experiences with partnerships supporting ocean conservation in sectors including consumer products, coastal tourism, textiles and sustainable seafood.
Development partners can play an important bridging role in helping companies to address their challenges related to coasts and oceans.
Experts from the World Ocean Council, Philippine Business for Environment and IUCN will discuss their role in supporting sustainable development of coasts and oceans in East Asia and the potential opportunities for private-sector collaboration.