Fiji “means business” when it comes to protecting our ocean’s health.
At a side-event on “Sustainable Ocean Economies that can drive a Blue Recovery and Sustainable Development” in Lisbon, Portugal, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said there was an urgent need for every nation to follow our actions on protecting our ocean.
In his capacity as the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, he said funding ocean ambition in the Pacific can take our nations from the frontline of the climate crisis to the cutting edge of ocean innovation.
“Without collective action, the Blue Pacific’s single effort won’t cut it. It is not enough for the world to support us, although we truly need the world’s support. The fact is that we need all nations to follow our actions.”
On the home front, he also outlined some of our major commitments toward sustainable ocean management.
“To meet our commitment to sustainably manage our ocean by 2030, with 30% as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), I announced that expanses within our Lau seascape, which together account for eight percent of Fiji’s ocean, will become an offshore MPA by 2024,” Prime Minister Bainimarama said.
He added that by 2030, we will ban virtually all single-use plastics and recycle all PET bottles, deepening ocean literacy will be a mandatory objective within our national curriculum and we will slash carbon emissions of our domestic shipping sector by 40%.
The head of the Fijian Government said that after fully mapping Fiji’s entire 1.3 million square kilometre EEZ by 2025, we will achieve total real-time surveillance of Fiji’s waters and by 2030, we will produce more than 160,000 metric tonnes of sustainably farmed and harvested ocean product, supporting over 53,000 new jobs on our way to supply half of all blue foods from sustainable fisheries by 2035.
“By 2050, Fiji will be a net-zero society. Our fisher-folks will have access to transport powered by sustainable propulsion – be it wind, electricity, hydrogen, or other hybrid solutions. The Pacific at large will be traversed by green shipping fleets – lowering the energy intensity of global trade. All fishing nets in Fijian waters must be bio-degradable, and we intend to create 100,000 new blue economy jobs–more than a tenth of our current population.”
“To get there, we need to adopt a new way of thinking, one centered on people and nature. Fiji is ready. The Pacific is ready. By the time we leave Lisbon, we need the world with us.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also delivered his remarks at the “Managing, Protecting, Conserving and Restoring Marine and Coastal Ecosystem” event, where he revealed that as the Pacific, our ambition is to protect 30% of our ocean.
