Antigua and Barbuda: Transitioning to the Blue Economy

Antigua and Barbuda: Transitioning to the Blue Economy

Sustainable Development Goals

An MoU to establish a Centre for Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy at the Five Islands Campus was signed in January 2021. The collaboration was formalised by the PM of Antigua and Barbuda, the Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, and Chair of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) to achieve this goal.

The Centre will aim to advance intellectual progress and strengthen institutional capacity in the areas of marine science and the blue economy while benefitting from the societal, economic and environmental opportunities for the Caribbean within this emerging sector.

The ACU, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and UWI are working alongside the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and the Commonwealth Secretariat to mobilise support for this project.

• More information in this press release: https://uwi.edu/vcreport/ft15.php 
• A virtual event linked to COP26 in November 2021: https://www.acu.ac.uk/acu-events/antigua-and-barbuda-transitioning-to-th...
• A related report states:

Supporting a sustainable blue economy is also a key pillar of United Nations leadership on Oceans, which includes the UN World Ocean Day, the Ocean Conference process and the UN Ocean Action Hub. A dedicated UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will also be taking place from 2021-2030 - coordinated by the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission, driven particularly by the University of Bergen, the institutional lead for the International Association of Universities’ (IAU) SDG14 cluster).

[...] In January 2019, the International Association of Universities (IAU) ALSO designated the UWI as the lead institution for a Global University Consortium on SDG 13 (Climate Action) in recognition of the University’s decades of research contributions on climate change and sustainable development.