The U.S. Department of State has announced $800 million to protect oceans and assist developing countries – from supporting the creation of marine protected areas and helping partner countries secure and enforce their marine resources, to improving the resilience of coastal areas to climate change.
The announcement was made at the eighth Our Ocean Conference (OOC) in Panama on March 8.
More than $18 million of the total fund is earmarked for maritime security, to “encourage international collaboration and create awareness among all stakeholders of the importance of creative and innovative solutions to help achieve a sustainable and secure maritime sector”.
The maritime security initiatives include:
- A set of actions and collaborations, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding signed last year at the Summit of the Americas with the Governments of Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, to strengthen the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR);
- $120,000 for a West Africa-focused Global Counterterrorism Forum Maritime Security Implementation Workshop;
- An intent to provide $1.5 million to support the Export Control and Border Security (EXBS) Yemen Coast Guard Interdiction Capacity Building Project, subject to Congressional notification;
- The release of a Five-Year National Strategy for Combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing;
- $2.8 million in new assistance to the Global Defense Reform Program to enhance; maritime security;
- An intent to sign a new maritime law enforcement agreement with Papua New Guinea;
- In collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada, the launch of an IUU Fishing Action Alliance aimed at increasing ambition and momentum in the fight against IUU fishing;
- The release of a new National Security Memorandum on Combating IUU Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses;
- $8.9 million for the establishment of the United States Coast Guard Southeast Asia Training Team (SEATT) to enhance maritime law enforcement, security, and interoperability in the region;
- $3 million for partner capacity building in the Blue Pacific for maritime security and maritime law enforcement;
- $2.19 million in support for maritime law enforcement and maritime security capacity building efforts through United States Coast Guard mobile training teams; and
- The signing of expanded operational procedures to complement the existing bilateral agreement with the Federated States of Micronesia to combat illicit transnational maritime activity.
The rest of the $800 million investment will be shared between projects that encompass climate change, marine protection, the sustainable blue economy, Atlantic cooperation, marine pollution, and sustainable fisheries.
Under the climate change banner, the Department of State has set aside $15 million to expand early warning systems in the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), subject to the completion of domestic procedures. In addition, $2.7 million has been earmarked for expanding early warning systems in Caribbean SIDS.
Read more at the Department of State
