Workshop points to value of marine spatial planning

Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU) Dr Leo Brewster wants Barbadians to develop a greater appreciation for the value of the marine space and how it contributes to the economy.

He made the call during yesterday’s opening ceremony for the Ecosystem Accounts For Marine Spatial Planning In Barbados Workshop at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The two-day event will see participants engaging in several sessions to gain a better understanding of the natural capital approach and natural capital accounting, and how they can be used for marine spatial planning.

“Anything that generates economic revenue from the ocean space, coastal marine areas, ports, harbours, tourism, is part of the blue economy,” Brewster told participants.

“The blue economy is supposed to promote economic growth, social inclusion, environmental preservation and the improvement of livelihoods, while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the ocean and coastal areas using the best available scientific information and knowledge for the present and future generations.”

He said there was a separate project being operated by the CZMU that will be specifically focused on the integration of environmental accounting across Government, which will be done through the upcoming Coastal Resilience Sustainable Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.

Planning process

Brewster added that by September they will be halfway through the marine spatial planing process, with it being finalised in 2027.

Ian Durant, acting vice-president, finance and corporate services at the CDB, spoke of natural capital loss

and its impact on tourism and the economy. This included a threat to tourism industries with fewer beaches and natural attractions for visitors, threats to food security for many small island developing states and vulnerable communities, and to domestic agriculture and farming systems adding to the growing dependence on imports to satisfy human needs.

He said the protection of the island’s natural capital was vital for building resilience and shared some of the ways to properly safeguard it. They include implementing systems to measure quantity, quality and financial value of assets; building systems to monitor and report on the state of the assets, and also create natural capital accounts to integrate stronger data into the development agenda.

“We need to improve administrative data systems and we need to deepen partnerships between national statistical offices and the wider national statistical system. We must address structural issues that continue to impede these partnerships, such as inadequate staffing of statistical offices and administrative data producers who capture, analyse and disseminate data and statistics, lack of financing to support the creation and combination of natural capital accounts, and weak datasharing systems across the national statistical system,” Durant added.

(AJ)