“This conference has proven to be an excellent opportunity to showcase what Bermuda has done to develop our Blue Economy and Marine Spatial Plan,” said the Minister of Home Affairs Walter Roban following his attendance at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

A Government spokesperson said, “Minister Roban attended an event organised by the French Government to promote the SARGADOM project. This project will contribute to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the high seas on the Thermal Dome in the Pacific and the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic.”

Minister Roban explained, “High seas governance has been described as an “unfinished agenda” – with a patchwork of organisations with competency over different aspects of high seas ecosystems. However, with the SARGADOM project, we are making progress in addressing this. Securing these two separate but complementary grants, one from the Global Environment Facility and another from the French Facility for Global Environment, will allow The Sargasso Sea Commission to undertake the first ecosystem diagnostic analysis of a high seas system.”

A spokesperson added, “Minister Roban also attended the Blue Prosperity Leadership Forum, led by Wait Institute Founder and Chair Mr Ted Waitt, which brought together heads of delegations, key technical staff member and core Blue Prosperity Coalition partners. Ocean leaders set out how they are working towards achieving lasting marine protection and sustainable blue economies.

“In addition to Bermuda, Fiji, Samoa, FSM, Maldives, Tonga, Azores, Cabo Verde and Wait Institute’s founding partners – Ocean 5 and Oceano Azul, were invited to attend the event. Minister Roban shared with the other countries Bermuda’s success in developing our own Blue Economy and Marine Spatial Plan.

Read more here: https://bernews.com/2022/07/minister-attends-un-ocean-conference-lisbon/