Title: Sailing Towards Prosperity: Africa’s Ocean Governance Agenda in the 21st Century
Abstract: African development policy in the 21st century has, in contrast to that of the 20th century, taken clear cognisance of the potential role of its vast maritime domain in aiding socio-economic development whilst mitigating environmental degradation. Mindful of the former, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa noted in 2016 that despite the continent’s rich resource endowments, it continues to suffer from large-scale poverty. The Commission postulated that the continent will account for much of the world’s exponential growth in this century. Doing so requires, in cases of conflict, that African states prioritise the social and economic aspects of sustainable development over the physical environment. With less than ten years left to achieve the goals set under the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the aim of this chapter is to shed light on Africa’s ocean governance agenda by analysing key governance frameworks. Following this analysis, it is concluded that Africa’s ocean governance agenda aligns with the continent’s anthropocentric developmental outlook and contributes to the principle of intragenerational equity as outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. More so, this agenda is advanced by continental and regional legal frameworks. It is recommended that although intragenerational equity serves the continent’s immediate development needs, African leaders ought to consider developing development thresholds that will enable the continent to later transition from adhering to the principle of intragenerational equity to intergenerational equity, so as to ensure that future generations also benefit from the continent’s vast ocean related wealth. In this chapter, this issue is examined from Africa’s ocean economy potential.
Publication Year: 2021
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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