Billions of people in Asia and the Pacific, especially poor and vulnerable communities, depend on healthy ocean ecosystems for livelihoods, food, good health, and enjoyment. However, climate change, pollution, unsustainable fishing, and rapid coastal development are threatening the productivity of our oceans.
We must restore and protect our oceans now to secure the future of Asia and the Pacific, because when oceans thrive, people thrive. This requires large investments, which governments and donors cannot meet alone. Over the next few decades, investment plans for COVID-19 recovery will be critical to regional development. Investments in Southeast Asia should aim to be future-proofing and enhance the overall sustainability and resilience of the blue economy in the medium-to-long- term.
The ADB’s Indonesia Resident Mission (IRM) will host the Blue SEA Finance Hub (BSFH), an “institutional base to proactively grow the Blue Economy in ASEAN” with the involvement of several other ADB units in the Southeast Asia Department (SERD) (country office in the Philippines and resident missions in Thailand and Viet Nam, as well as the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF) managed by the SERD Innovation Hub) and thematic groups within the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) as well as external partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
0:00 Introduction to the Ocean Health issue
0:40 Financing the Blue Economy
1:53 The Blue Potential of Southeast Asia
2:20 Introducing the Blue SEA Finance Hub
3:10 Learn more
