Empowerment of the actors in carrying out actions aimed at achieving a change in realities that contributed to the improvement of their context and quality of life. It was developed during the strengthening process and its maturity boosted the security and confidence of the participants, as part of their leadership for collective decision making within the framework of the implementation of the Citizen Action Conversatory.

Identification and prioritization of a work agenda with leaders of the Ramsar Bureau for the prioritization of thematic axes, methodologies and operability of the training agenda aimed at ensuring commitments that allowed changes and/or maintenance over time of the environmental and cultural heritage of the Ramsar site. During a year and a half itinerant meetings were held in the Ramsar site, where indigenous leaders and authorities along with farmers interacted with specialists on issues of citizen participation, conservation biology, fisheries management and productive alternatives for life.

The recognition of the context and identification of problems and needs in environmental, social and political terms, was carried out through a planning space using playfulness and community participation where points of view were expressed about what affects the territory, culture and survival, consolidating an exercise of rights for inclusive citizen participation in which the values, customs, traditions and knowledge of indigenous and peasants who inhabit the Ramsar site were incorporated.

The national fleet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) highly depends on imported fuels and is therefore a significant source of GHG-emissions. The bilateral program “Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport (LCST)” implemented by RMI and the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aims at supporting the RMI Government´s planning and decision-making processes with respect to its low carbon future and the reduction of GHG-emissions from domestic sea transport, through consultancy, research, training, coordination of policy support to RMI and supporting in delivering RMI’s commitments under UNFCCC to achieve reduced GHG emissions from domestic shipping 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

The Marshallese Government founded and is an active member of the High Ambition Coaltion for Shipping (SHAC) at IMO and UNFCCC and due to their ambition, the group of supporters of an ambitious contribution of sea transport to the climate goals is growing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international meetings and high-level conferences are taking place remotely to a high extend.

Ri Majol, the people of the Marshall Islands were known for their superior boat building and sailing skills for centuries. They traveled frequently between their atolls (for trade and war) on big offshore canoes called Walap (some of them 100ft long). The lagoons of their low-lying coral atolls where crested by sails of smaller outrigger canoe designs for rapid inside lagoon transportation, food gathering and fishing. Together with Waan Aelõñ in Majel, we are reviving the traditional knowlege combined with modern technology. The ambitious goals of the Marshall Islands in the sea transport sector have become the main driver and motivation for us to pursue and to transition towards a low carbon fleet for the Marshall Islands for transport inside the lagoons and between atolls. Currently, a 150 ft. Training Vessel is about to be constructed and delivered to RMI by the 2nd half of 2022. After the agreement of the design, the market survey process started with the objection to identify shipyards that are interested and capable of building the new built as drafted in the tender design. The Maritime Training Approach in the Marshall Islands sets a clear focus on Low Emission Sea Transport Education and will train future sailors as part of the national fleet operators.

Ensuring a multistakeholder approach, including financial institutions and bilateral and multilateral donors in the dialogue and more specifically on investment in the blue economy financial institutions are involved since start, in particular the EIB, AfD, KfW. The UfM receives also support from SIDA and GIZ for complimentary Blue Economy activities.

The UfMS will continue to promote discussion on current needs, limitations and opportunities to further encourage innovative financial instruments in the sustainable Blue Economy, through participation and co-organisation of future events such as Blue Invest events, organized by the European Comission, and follow up to the meeting on the implementation of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance.

The multi-stakeholder’s approach is at the core of the regional dialogue on Blue Economy and at the heart of the UfM mandate. In this regard, the Mediterranean Blue Economy Stakeholder Platform (MedBESP) was created to ensure the involvement of different stakeholders in a dynamic and interactive way, being a regional networking platform for sharing knowledge and supporting the development of the blue economy. It allows the facilitation of coordination and links among initiatives, programs and projects of relevance to blue economy, triggering the final impact of the existing initiatives.

The Mediterranean Blue Economy Stakeholder Platform has been proven to expand the Blue Economy community, to ensure flow of information and communicate all content types in an appealing, engaging, shareable way, to engage the community, to get platform users to share content and connect with each other. 

The governance structure is designed in different levels to assure and assist with a continuous and regular regional dialogue around a common agenda on Blue Economy.

It is structured around three components and notably, the Blue Economy Working Group, the Stakeholder Conference/Event(s) and the Mediterranean Blue Economy Stakeholder Platform.

The  well-established UfM Blue Economy Working Group that meets once or twice per year. The UfM Secretariat is in charge of organising the meetings, including up to 2 participants per member country and a broad range of representatives of different stakeholders categories (Managing Authorities, International Financial Institutions, Academia, Local Authorities, etc). Regular communication among partners ensures an effective functioning of the partnership between agencies during the overall implementation of the project’s activities. The main tasks of the group are:

• Review the whole implementation of the Ministerial declaration;
• Inform the group about regional and national advancements;
• Exchange views and information
• Review the implementation process and make decisions on the necessary changes that could potentially emerge;
• Review main project expected results and outputs;
• Propose measures to strengthen linkages with other relevant national, regional and global initiatives.

Ministers from the 42 Union for the Mediterranean countries have agreed to intensify their efforts towards a sustainable blue economy in the Mediterranean. Doing so, they want to ensure the sustainable development of the region around its main shared good – the Mediterranean Sea; promote the recovery of the region’s economies from the COVID-19 crisis; and address the environmental and climate challenges the region is facing.

The key areas of cooperation agreed by the 42 UfM countries are: governance and the future of sea basin strategies in the Mediterranean region; marine research and innovation, skills, careers and employment; sustainable food from the sea: fisheries and aquaculture; sustainable, climate-neutral and zero-pollution maritime transport and ports; marine litter; coastal and maritime tourism; Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management; marine renewable energies; maritime safety and security; sustainable investment​​.

In order to ensure sustainability and long-term effectiveness, those areas are managed by the community, alongside with: 

• Development of a sustainable fish consumer guide for restaurants and tourists through research on sustainable fish, fishing practices, fish supply chains and demand
• Establishment of 5 livelihood associations such as VSLAs
• Feasibility study for the development of sustainable fishing cooperatives
• Training and equipment of fishermen as Ocean Rangers to monitor fishing practices.

These activities have resulted in the reduction of destructive, indiscriminate artisanal fishing methods and over-fishing in four fishing communities in order to reduce unsustainable pressure on fish stocks and the catch of vulnerable species (Tofo, Barra, Rocha, Morrungulo and potentially Bazaruto).