Fiji is aiming to reduce the use of fossil fuels in domestic shipping services by 2030 through a Blue Shipping Initiative.
This was highlighted by the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while speaking at the opening of the Climate and Ocean Negotiators’ Symposium at GPH today.
Sayed-Khaiyum revealed that Fiji is in the process of putting forward a Blue Shipping Initiative with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and 5‑6 other Pacific island countries.
He says that currently, shipping vessels in Pacific island countries, on average, have been in service for around 24 years adding that the aging fleet is inefficient and has an unacceptably high carbon footprint.
Sayed-Khaiyum also stressed that there is an urgent need to subsidise a transformation towards greener, more efficient transportation throughout the region.
He also highlighted that in Fiji alone, marine ecosystem services are valued at over $FJ2.5billion, including the over $120million that fisheries and aquaculture contribute to Fiji’s GDP.
He urged participants at the Ocean Negotiator’s Symposium the to Talanoa, discuss, debate and plan a way forward to ensure we integrate the Ocean in the Blue COP25 in Santiago, Chile at the end of this year.
This will be the first of three such symposiums for parties to negotiate along the blue lines in preparation for the Blue COP.
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