AA. Atoll Council, University of Genoa sign MoU to implement Blue Economy projects

AA. Atoll Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with University of Genoa in Italy to implement Blue Economy projects within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). 

The agreement between University of Genoa, AA. Atoll Council, AA. Rasdhoo Council, and ICT4SIDS – a UN partnership - was signed on Sunday, December 25. 

According to Vittorio Coco, ICT4SIDS’ Regional Director for South Asia and founder and coordinator of the Blue Economy Desk at AA. Atoll Council, the agreement will bring together scientists, researchers, professors and students from the Italian university to interface and collaborate with local authorities, island communities, young entrepreneurs, marine science students, biologists and other Maldivian stakeholders, putting youth and women from the local islands at the center of sustainable development based on blue growth and biodiversity conservation in AA. Atoll and beyond. 

Coco, an Italian who resides in Rasdhoo, started negotiations with the parties to secure the agreement back in May. 

He said that an impressive range of academic resources will be mobilized and allocated on a long-term basis in AA. Atoll under the agreement, giving the University of Genoa a leading role in the transition of the local islands to the blue economy. 

“This UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030)-inspired project was conceived to work in synergy with Noo Raajje program on a Maldivian national scale to align the sustainable development of AA. Atoll to a national priority as the Blue Economy, and it has also high ambitions to complement and enhance Italy’s growing attention to the Indian Ocean by interacting with the Italy-IORA Platform members, to promote blue growth, sustainable development and economic cooperation in the region, said Coco. 

He said that the launch of the new Maldives-Italy partnership aligns with Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s speech during the Maldives Investment Forum in Dubai in October, during which said the Blue Economy was a priority for the country and welcomed international experts to promote blue economy projects in Maldives. 

“We are proud to show President Solih and all concerned Maldivian and Italian authorities that the Blue Economy Desk in Rasdhoo has become, within just eight months, a highly effective platform of international collaboration able to bring together Italian marine scientists and experts and Maldivian local communities and stakeholders to share the vision of  the Blue Economy as a new paradigm of international cooperation in ocean sciences and sustainable development, facilitating post-Covid-19 recovery of coastal and maritime tourism, as well as emerging sectors like blue biotechnologies, energy from the ocean, aquaculture, and more" he said. 

“With University of Genoa’s assistance to set up an innovative research infrastructure in the atoll such as laboratories, classrooms and courses to create blue biotechnologists, blue biobank and incubator for start-ups, and by mainstreaming into blue economy sectors’ latest sustainable technologies to keep the ocean healthy and productive, this alliance will strongly contribute to advance the global goals of the UN Ocean Decade in Maldives." 

Coco stressed that blue growth depended on ensuring the preservation of and continued investment in blue natural capital such as coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, and microorganisms, which in turn leads to sustainable economic growth. 

"We are here to advocate blue natural capital investment opportunities in AA. Atoll where international investors could take advantage of innovative research infrastructure development - which are now facilitated through the most recent launched EU Global Gateway Strategy -, to fund highly innovative blue economy projects in the atoll and provide both economic and environmental benefits to all stakeholders for the foreseeable future," he said. 

Coco said that the Blue Economy Desk will work with all stakeholders to identify and incorporate blue natural capital into potential blue economy development projects in the atoll and beyond. 

“Eventually we envision a Maldives Blue Economy Hub, hosted in a GENeration Ocean Atoll (GENOA) Community Center in Rasdhoo, designed by internationally acclaimed Italian Architect Giancarlo Zema, dedicated to the future of the young people of the atoll, and connected to global networks of responsible business operators encompassing all sustainable economic activities relating to oceans and seas. With the appropriate education programs and business strategy the Blue Economy Hub should then attract international investors into partnering with local start-ups to create innovative and high valued ocean-based bio products, enabling enterprising youth and women in Maldives to enter the Blue Biotrade markets, worldwide developed under UNCTAD assistance, and to harness the Marine Trade (Ocean-to-Market) of new bioproducts (food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc.) made in Maldives to support ecological sustainability and economic growth of the country,” he said. 

The first delegation from the University of Genoa is expected to arrive in AA. Atoll in January.