Caribbean Ocean Governance Capacity Building — Stakeholder consultation in Ocean Governance

To support a more integrated and collaborative approach to ocean governance, the Economic and Legal Section (ELS) of the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec) has expanded its Maritime Boundaries Delimitation (MBD) Programme to include ocean governance and marine resource management. A survey we conducted gained the views of a cross section of marine stakeholders (from Commonwealth OECS Caribbean member countries) on the future issues and economic opportunities surrounding ocean governance for the region. To help develop the opportunities identified above, there is a need to understand “where we are” in terms of ocean governance within the eastern Caribbean region and attempt to determine “where we want this to go” with regard to sustainable economic development, as well as “how could this be achieved”. The outcomes helped identified three thematic areas for the future work of the Commonwealth Secretariat in support of ocean governance, namely: a) Securing access to marine resources; b) Realising the value of the ocean economy; c) Supporting mechanisms to deliver integrated ocean governance (IOG).