Overview

The event will thus be in two parts: the first focusing on science, innovations and investments in blue economy, while the second part will focus on sports, specifically, actions by athletics federations to champion air quality and climate actions.

The key objectives of the side event held in two parts are the following:

• Promote business and partnership-building to catalyse transformative investments and sustainable harnessing of Oceans and the Blue Economy with a focus on Africa and the Small Island Development States (SIDS);
• Actioning collaborative partnerships between the scientific, policy and private sector communities to facilitate investments and commercialization of research and innovations in Blue Economy and oceans;
• Exploration of a viable model for a Sustainable Blue Economy investment instrument;
• Raise awareness on the link between sports, specifically athletics, and the environment, looking at air quality and climate actions for human health;
• Showcase the role of sports in environmental sustainability, and more specifically, present examples of actions by sports federations to address air quality and climate change.

Panellists:

• Ambassador Helen Ågren – Ambassador for Oceans, Sweden
• Dr. Jakob Granit – Director General, the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwaM)
• Dr. Kay Harrison, Climate Change Ambassador, New Zealand
• Prof. George Outa – Blue Economy Investment Facility, Kenya
• Dr. Francis Owino, Principal Secretary – State Department for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy (SDFA&BE), Kenya
• Dr. Karina Barquet, Team Leader, Water, Coasts and Oceans, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Sweden
• Amb. (Dr.) Amina Mohammed, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Heritage and Culture, Kenya
• Lord Sebastian Coe, President, World Athletics
• Mr. Johan Storåkers, President Swedish Athletic Association
• Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei, President, Athletics Kenya
• Mr. David Rudisha, (Kenya) – Double Olympic 800m champion
• Ms. Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden) – World Champion (2005) and World Indoor Record Holder in High Jump, and Swedish Athletics Association National Manager
• Dr. Philip Osano, Center Director, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Africa

Event description

Part 1: Business partnerships for a sustainable blue economy -This segment will display innovations and investment opportunities in blue economy, focussing on Africa and the Small Island Development states (SIDS) across the range of blue economy sectors. It will provide for multi-sectoral leadership conversations targeting an array of global investors, development partners, multilateral financial institutions, and research organisations, within the context of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).  It will also provide an opportunity to display tangible outputs as part of the realization of the promise of the Blue Economy, as envisaged in the ‘Statement of Shared Intent” from the 2018 Sustainable Blue Economy Conference (SBEC).

Part 2: Sports and Environment with a focus on athletics and air quality – This second part of the side event will demonstrate how the sports community is championing air quality and accelerated climate actions. The discussions will involve the sharing of experiences by athletic federations on tackling air pollution and climate change through unique partnerships bringing together sports federations. Two world leading athletes will also give real-life testimonies as Global Ambassadors for Environment, championing actions for clean air, and climate change in their communities.