The Ocean Conference : Bangladesh side event on ‘Towards the sustainable blue future: Fiscal incentives to achieve SDG-14’

UsaNewsOnline.Com, New York, 5 June :  Today, at the UN Headquarters, Bangladesh hosted a side event on ‘Towards the sustainable blue future: Fiscal incentives to achieve SDG-14’ in the margin of the high-level United Nations Ocean Conference for implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-14). The side-event was co-sponsored by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), and British Columbia University. A six-member Bangladesh delegation led by Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam, is attending the Conference.

In the opening remarks of the side event, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Ambassador Masud Bin Momen said, “Collaborative and coordinated actions at national, regional and global levels are essential to achieve the ambitious and time bound targets of SDG 14. Otherwise, the current scenario of oceans and marine resources may further deteriorate and undermine the 2030 Agenda. And here suitable fiscal models or instruments come into play”.

Mentioning the government’s initiatives for implementing SDG-14 the Ambassador said, “In Bangladesh, our authorities have committed fiscal resources from its domestic sources for enforcing 65 days’ fishing ban on all kinds of fishes and eight months’ fishing ban on the Hilsha species, including by providing alternative livelihood opportunities for the affected fishers”.

The event was moderated by Dr. Essam Yassin Mohammed of IIED while Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam, Professor Rashid Sumaila of University of British Columbia, Katia Karousakis and Roger Martini from OECD made presentations as panelists.

The panelists mentioned how fiscal incentives could contribute to achieving the SDG-14 targets and a sustainable blue future. They also discussed about different aspects of fisheries subsidies and their impacts in this regard.

Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit emphasized on the critical role of the oceans in balancing developmental, social and environmental aspects of Agenda 2030 for developing countries like Bangladesh. He mentioned about the importance of mangrove forest for Bangladesh and shared governments’ various initiatives to protect this forest. Further, he highlighted our potentials in aquaculture, ship building, maritime trade, salt production, marine based renewable energy and blue biotechnology.

After the Question-Answer session the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh made his concluding remarks. The ongoing Ocean conference will continue till 9 June 2017.