Pan Commonwealth Oceans Governance Project Of the Commonwealth’s 54 Member States, 32 are Small States, 47 are coastal States and 25 are small island developing States (SIDS).  Under  international law, coastal States have jurisdiction and control of economic activities within waters extending 200 nautical miles and beyond from their coastlines. For some Commonwealth Small States, this jurisdiction typically far exceeds their terrestrial areas.  

For many Commonwealth member countries, access to marine resources plays a critical role in shaping their economic and social development. However, while the oceans offer the potential to create considerable socio-economic and cultural benefits, they are under increasing human pressure. While better management of marine resources may contribute to improving livelihoods and economic growth, it is unlikely than any one approach to resource exploitation will be sufficient to meet and sustain development goals and sector specific approaches to environmental management have proved limited. 

Many SIDS Member States are increasingly attracted to the prospect of a blue economy and the development of sustainable governance structures, yet few have the internal capacity to manage the variety of social, economic, environmental and governance requirements needed to address an ocean based economy in an integrated manner. The vulnerability and associated characteristics of these States presents hurdles to improving these contributions in an integrated and sustainable manner. Threats arising from climate change in low lying Small States, due to changes in sea temperature and chemistry disruption in movements of water, cause redistribution of marine organisms and the damage the structure of marine ecosystems. Low lying coastal communities increasingly threatened by rising sea levels face forced relocation and may be affected in the exercise of jurisdiction and realization of economic potential in maritime spaces where fixed boundaries have not been established. While climate change looms large on the international agenda, a coordinated effort by domestic policy and decision makers to address the implications of these changes on the future viability of an ocean-based national economy has been slow in coming.

Central to a transformational response to these problems is a move from sector-specific management, to a more integrated approach that requires the full range of uses, users and values to be considered, while ensuring environmental management is integrated directly with economic development, fiscal policy and social goals. 

The growing popularity of terms such as ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘Blue Growth,’ and the inclusion (for the first time) of a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal devoted to the oceans (SDG 14) reflect international recognition of the value of the ocean as a potential source of expanded economic growth. 

Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2015 recognised that the development of a sustainably-managed ‘blue economy’ offers significant opportunities for economic growth, better ocean governance, and the conservation and management of marine resources, habitats and biodiversity and welcomed the prospect of capacity building partnership activities in support of these aims.

Established Blue economy sectors include: capture fisheries and seafood processing 
Shipping and ports, 
Offshore oil and gas (shallow water)
Marine manufacturing and construction
Maritime and coastal tourism
Marine business services
Marine research & development and education
Dredging

Emerging sectors include: Marine aquaculture
Deep-water and ultra-deep-water oil and gas
Shipbuilding and repair Offshore wind energy
Ocean renewable energy
Marine and seabed mining
Maritime safety and surveillance
Marine biotechnology
High-tech marine products and services (OECD 2016)

How the problem will be addressed: 

The Trade Oceans and Natural Resources Advisory Team (TONR) of the Commonwealth Secretariat is a primary partner in developing Blue Economy/Blue Growth approaches among coastal Member States and has contributed to wider recognition of the concept as a mechanism for realizing sustainable growth centred on an ocean-based economy. More particularly, the concept of a Blue Commonwealth Charter which draws on principles from the Commonwealth Charter, is being developed. Based on the 16 Principles of the Commonwealth Charter, the Blue Charter will offer member countries a straight-forward 5 point implementation framework:

1.	Sustainable development and protection of the marine environment;
2.	Recognition of small and vulnerable States;
3.	The importance of young people and civil society;
4.	Human rights and dignity;
5.	Good governance, justice and peace.

To ensure its practical use, the Blue Charter flagship product (for leaders) would be accompanied by a toolkit of pragmatic guidance for officials on how to address different aspects of Blue Economies. It would be supported by knowledge and innovation exchange amongst member countries. Different regional and thematic country groupings will be explored to maximize effectiveness.

The Oceans Governance Project will do so through the following initiatives:

Supporting Member States’ securing the full extent of their maritime jurisdiction by defining and finalizing their maritime boundaries, and in the process strengthening local capacity and ownership. Many States do not possess the legal, technical or resource capacity to assess the technical aspects, negotiate and finalize the limits of their maritime jurisdiction. ONR has a proven track record in this regard, and has supported 17 member States in the Caribbean, Pacific, the Indian Ocean and Africa over the past two years;

2.	Developing integrated decision-making structures including:
national ocean councils and national ocean policies reflective of existing future uses enabling States to map current and future uses in an integrated fashion with clear action plans and identified personnel and resources. ONR has in partnership with Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), developed the Eastern Caribbean Regional Oceans Policy (ECROP) which has been recognised as an international best practice, adopted by the World Bank as a platform for financing the implementation of a complementary Caribbean Regional Oceans Policy (CROP);
Long term plans, including marine spatial plans to provide roadmaps for national ocean priority-setting, maritime development and marine protection;
Transparency policies, rules and regulations to allow for information sharing, public participation, accountability and access to justice;

3.	Fostering good governance in the maritime sector through the revision and recommendation for adoption of sectoral policies and laws for the management of activities which impact the marine sphere so as to maximise national benefit, encourage sustainable development of ocean and ecosystem services.   

Maintaining and improving cooperation with development partners: The Commonwealth’s niche position gives it access to Commonwealth "institutional memory" and a network of partnerships and members of the Commonwealth family, enabling lessons to be learnt from one country to another. Engagement with the right mix of international and regional/local partners will reinforce the principles promoted by the programme, leverage local expertise, tie in with national development strategies, mobilise additional resources for achieving and implementing development objectives and generating in-country buy-in. ONR has developed several partnerships with agencies and institutions in this regard.

COVID-19 implications: COVID-19 has restricted ONR’s ability to undertake missions to project countries and attend other international meetings and workshops. It has also impacted on member countries engagement with ONR as staff have been temporarily seconded to COVID-19 response teams. 
While some projects will see slower progress during this time, ONR is working with members to continue to deliver projects, including via virtual meetings as necessary. This is made possible through the rapport that was previously built between ONR Advisers and focal points.   

1. www.thecommonwealth.org/small-states. For the purposes of this Project Note, the emphasis will be on Small States as defined by the Small States Division of the Commonwealth, with particular reference to SIDS. 

2.  In the Pacific, Kiribati with a land mass of just 811km2 can claim an ocean space of 3,441,810 km2. Antigua and Barbuda’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at nearly 107,9149 km2, is one of the largest maritime zones in the Caribbean and is approximately 200 times greater than its land space.