Blue Economy Twinning Exchange: Caribbean and African SIDS Unite for Collaborative Ocean Governance

This experience note documents a successful Twinning Exchange between the UNDP/GEF/UNOPS PROCARIBE+ Project (Wider Caribbean Region) and the UNDP/GEF African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Blue Economy Project. The exchange, facilitated by GEF IW:LEARN, aimed to promote South-South and SIDS-to-SIDS collaboration by sharing best practices in Blue Governance models, sustainable finance, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), and community-based conservation. The initiative showcased Belize's pioneering approach, specifically its Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation and integrated policy frameworks, offering a practical model for institutional and financial sustainability in transboundary marine resource management.

The exchange involved two major GEF International Waters projects:

1. PROCARIBE+ Project (Protecting and Restoring the Ocean’s natural Capital, building Resilience and supporting region-wide Investments for sustainable Blue socio-Economic development): A five-year regional initiative (May 2023–May 2028) focused on strengthening the long-term management of shared living marine resources across the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (CLME+ region). It aims to foster a climate-resilient, sustainable Blue Economy and is building the Wider Caribbean Ocean Coordination Mechanism (OCM) as a permanent regional governance platform to support strategic ocean action across the region.
    

2. African SIDS Blue Economy Project (Supporting Sustainable Inclusive Blue Economy Transformation in African SIDS): This project, executed by the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA), commenced implementation in June 2025 across six African SIDS (Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles). Its aim is to enhance sustainable and inclusive Blue Economy development in the African SIDS region. The African Union Commission acts as the project’s custodian throughout the African region, using the project as a main pillar for countries to implement the African Union’s Blue Economy Strategy.
    

The IW:LEARN Twinning Programme facilitated this exchange as an iterative SIDS-to-SIDS collaboration, providing a crucial platform for peer-to-peer learning and capacity building between the two regions.

The exchange addressed the following core challenges common to both the Caribbean and African SIDS regions in transboundary waters management:

• Fragmented Ocean Governance: The challenge of transitioning from fragmented sectoral management to integrated ocean governance models that enable long-term, multi-sectoral collaboration and policy coherence at regional and national levels.

• Financing Gap for Conservation: Difficulty in securing long-term, sustainable financing mechanisms to support large-scale marine conservation, adaptation, and resilient community development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
   

• Vulnerability and Resilience: Shared exposure to climate change impacts, marine ecosystem degradation, and socio-economic vulnerabilities, necessitating strategies for building resilient coastal communities and ecosystems.
   

Need for Science-to-Action Linkages: The necessity to embed science and data-driven tools (like MSP, Ocean Accounts) into legal frameworks and adaptive management systems for effective implementation and enforcement.

The Twinning Exchange involved representatives from the African SIDS Project, the African Union Commission, and PROCARIBE+ counterparts in a visit to Cartagena, Colombia, and Belize.

1. Regional Coordination in Cartagena

The exchange began in Cartagena, Colombia, where participants joined the First Regional Partnership Forum of the Wider Caribbean Ocean Coordination Mechanism (OCM).

Attending the Forum allowed the African SIDS delegation to observe how regional ocean governance is taking shape in the Wider Caribbean region and to connect with high-level representatives working on ocean issues in the Caribbean and beyond. The Partnership Forum was an opportunity to engage regional and global stakeholders beyond the OCM membership -currently consisting of 20 countries from the Wider Caribbean and 9 IGOs- in line with the concept of integrated and interactive ocean governance.

The forum provided a blueprint for how African SIDS could strengthen their own regional platforms and knowledge systems for collective ocean stewardship.

2. Belize's National Blue Economy Model

The second phase in Belize showcased a people-centric model for ocean conservation and sustainable economic development. The Belize Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation (MBEMC) hosted detailed sessions on several key areas:

• Innovative Finance: Presentations by the Blue Bond and Finance Permanence Unit showcased the Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation—a debt-for-nature swap that secured long-term funding for marine protection. The delegation also learned about the Resilient Bold Belize (RBB) initiative, a Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) mechanism aimed at raising over $160 million for nature-based livelihoods and climate resilience.
   

• Policy and Planning: Sessions with the Coastal Zone Management Authority & Institute detailed the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Process (Belize Sustainable Ocean Plan), illustrating the integration of science-based decision-making and legal frameworks.
   

• Sustainable Fisheries and Enforcement: The Belize Fisheries Department shared its management approaches, including the use of data for management decisions and strategies for enforcement and compliance.
   

Community Co-Management: Site visits, including the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve (SCMR), demonstrated the work of co-managers like the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE). A major focus was on the establishment of Fishery Replenishment Zones (FRZs), highlighting the model of balancing enforcement, education, and livelihood support. The Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA) also presented its use of innovative technologies (e.g., SMART patrols) for enforcement and adaptive management.

The exchange resulted in tangible outputs and significant learning for both projects:

Improved Policy Frameworks & Capacity

• African SIDS: Gained practical knowledge and models on policy, governance, and blue finance, directly informing their project inception phase. Specific lessons included MSP processes applicable to Cabo Verde, community co-management models relevant to Comoros, and finance innovations for all six African SIDS.
   

• PROCARIBE+: Enhanced cross-regional understanding of how African SIDS are developing frameworks like the Africa Blue Economy Strategy, fostering greater SIDS-to-SIDS collaboration.

• Capacity Building: The exchange facilitated the transfer of knowledge, expertise, and practical skills in innovative finance and MPA management between peers.
   

Innovative Finance Insights

• Belize's Blue Bonds demonstrated a successful, transformative model for unlocking long-term conservation funding. The ongoing work on Resilient Bold Belize (RBB) showcased a major PFP initiative as a way to raise public and private capital for resilience and livelihoods.
   

• The concept of Fishery Replenishment Zones (FRZs) in Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, co-financed by PROCARIBE+, provided a site-specific example of how international project funds and local co-management partners can protect critical spawning sites and support conservation commitments.
   

Strengthened Collaboration

• The exchange strengthened the bond and sense of kinship between Caribbean and African SIDS, setting the stage for the reciprocal exchange to Africa in 2026.
   

A meeting with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) helped identify cross-regional synergies for future collaboration between the CRFM and the African Union Commission.

Other egions and projects aiming to replicate this experience should be aware of the following:

Implementation Challenges

• Institutional Alignment: Replicating Belize's success requires establishing strong political will and dedicated institutional structures, such as the Ministry of the Blue Economy and the Blue Bond and Finance Permanence Unit at the Office of the Prime Minister, which ensures ocean governance is coordinated at the highest level. This top-level alignment can be politically and structurally difficult to achieve.
   

• Financing Readiness: Implementing large-scale mechanisms like the Blue Bond requires significant preparation, including technical, legal, and financial readiness, as well as the capacity to manage long-term debt restructuring.
   

• Data and Science Investment: The success of Belize's MSP is underpinned by extensive investment in science-based data collection (e.g., Ocean Use Survey (OUS), MARXAN modeling). Replication requires upfront commitment to costly and intensive data systems.
   

Long-Term Capacity: Sustaining the model depends on empowering local actors with the right skills, necessitating continuous capacity-building and formalizing the roles of community co-management partners (e.g., TASA, TIDE) in national governance.

Conditions for Replication/Benefit

• Policy and Legal Mandates: New projects should prioritize the creation of clear legal and policy frameworks (e.g., Blue Economy Bill, Fisheries Act) that give sustainable marine use and conservation legal standing.
   

• Integrated Finance and MRV: Develop integrated Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems that link finance disbursement to verified ecological and social outcomes, a crucial element for attracting performance-based and biodiversity finance.
   

Participatory Planning: Adopt an inclusive, multi-sectoral, and participatory planning process for Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) that formally incorporates local ecological knowledge from fishers and communities into zoning and policy decisions.

This exchange is highly significant to GEF and transboundary water resources management for the following reasons:

• Validation of GEF IW:LEARN Mandate: It directly affirms the value of IW:LEARN's Twinning Programme in promoting South-South and SIDS-to-SIDS collaboration, which is critical for solving shared, non-sovereign global environmental problems across the International Waters portfolio.
   

• Demonstration of Best Practices: The experience provided the African SIDS Project with an invaluable, field-tested model of a mature Blue Economy program, offering replicable 'end-state' solutions in integrated ocean governance, resilient livelihoods, and innovative blue finance for transboundary water resource management projects globally.
   

• Fostering Global Ocean Coordination: By explicitly linking the Caribbean OCM and the African SIDS projects, the exchange contributes to the broader GEF objective of strengthening regional and cross-regional cooperation mechanisms to combat climate and marine degradation impacts more effectively and collectively.

• Sustainable Finance Blueprint: Belize’s approach to securing long-term, domestic finance through the Blue Bond and PFP mechanisms provides a powerful blueprint for other projects seeking to move beyond reliance on project-cycle funding toward financial permanence for environmental management and ocean conservation.