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THE BLUE ECONOMY AND FINANCE | 57

Known as “blue carbon”, salt marshes, mangrove swamps and
seagrasses capture and sequester significant quantities of CO ,
2
and offer an invaluable natural defence against flooding.
DID
YOU
KNOW?

Towards a green THE “FREE ZONES OF THE
and blue Africa FUTURE”

A consultant within the World FZO programme, which
The second panel was arranged by Patricia Cressot, focuses on sustainable ocean development, Zoe Har-
director of Africa Development and founder of Sowl ries referred to a framework which allows free and
Initiative at Rosemont International. special economic zones to achieve their full perfor-
mance potential, by accelerating value creation and
encouraging regional prosperity.
USE OF PRIVATE FUNDS

“We must review the basic principles of finance, cri- BUILDING SUSTAINABLE
tically analyse financial assessment methods and DEVELOPMENT
avoid the damaging focus on short-term profits to es-
tablish a new sustainable and resilient global balance Fighting against the exploitation of natural resources
founded on human beings. The green and solidarity in Africa, the Senegalese association Oceanium,
economy needs financial means to develop”, ex- supported by Monaco, has allowed the restoration
plained Bertrand Badré, former Managing Director of of 15,000 hectares of mangrove swamp. 100 million
the World Bank and founder of Blue Like an Orange trees have been planted, to help sequester 1 million
Sustainable Capital fund. As underlined in the latest tonnes of carbon (the equivalent of 1 million flights
International Monetary Fund and World Bank report, between Paris and Dakar, or the annual emissions
the encouragement of private investment would be of 2 million Senegalese). The restoration of these
crucial to tackle major environmental challenges and ecosystems has created a virtuous cycle: fishing re-
achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals set sources have developed, generating €5.68 million;
by the United Nations. rice production is up, etc. It is about encouraging
a reversal of the decline in Africa’s natural wealth
thanks to investment which allows sustainable de-
A SELF-SUFFICIENT AFRICA? velopment.

As noted by Stéphane Brabant, partner at Herbert
Smith Freehills, the blue economy is developing in the
context of building inclusive growth and sustainable
development at the scale of a self-sufficient Africa,
which will be home to 3 billion people in 2050. The
opportunities offered by the development of its blue IN
economy are considerable, as well as the challenges FIGURES
(piracy, insecurity, etc.).

■ $1.5 trillion/year
Estimated annual value of the ocean,
making it the world’s 7 biggest economy.
th