Blue Economy

The first panel moderated by Gunter Pauli gave more insights on the blue economy and the different initiatives being implemented in reducing the impact of human behaviour on the environment. From Rodrigues Island with the closure of Octopus fishing during reproduction period to the production of bio certified coffee from Madagascar, our panellists shared their views and challenges they are facing in setting up their projects.

Key takeaways 

• New business models taking into consideration the impact of our actions on the environment and the local community need to be developed.
• We, Islands of the Indian Ocean, cannot compete in the global market with price strategy anymore. Being sustainable will help in creating value to the country, organisations and local communities.
• There’s a need to move towards a circular economy where we engage in finding solutions and aim at minimizing waste and making the most of resources.
• Nowadays, we have to continuously keep and maintain the dialogue between the government and private companies. Dialogue is key in accelerating the movement towards the SDGs.
• As neighbours, we need to aim at reinforcing our collaboration and sharing our researches so that our findings are useful to each other.