The art of convening Blue Training Courses

Written by Tabitha Stimpfle and Carolin Hoffmann, Blue Solutions Initiative

After five eventful years, the Blue Solutions project is in its final year of implementation and will come to an end in late 2018. To ensure the long-term availability, implementation and adaptation of the Blue Training Courses*, a workshop dedicated to “The art of convening Blue Training Courses” was conducted in June 2018. The workshop was jointly organized by the Blue Solutions Initiative, the Mami Wata Project, the MARISMA Project and convened in collaboration with the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Continue reading →

Be a volunteer in Vanuatu!

You are a passionate marine and coastal conservationist? You want to engage as a volunteer?
The Nguna-Pele Marine and Land Protected Area Network in Vanuatu is looking for you! Take the chance and contribute to the roll-out of an innovative conservation finance program. You will have the opportunity to work with and learn from experts in the field of payments for ecosystem services and eco-tourism.
Minimum stay: 3 months.
Are you interested? Please contact Tasaruru Whitely (jelowislandtours@gmail.com) or Christopher Bartlett (christopher.bartlett@giz.de) for more information.

Moving from pilots to mainstreaming: Blue Solutions at the 3rd EbA Knowledge Day

Written by Tabitha Stimpfle, Blue Solutions Initiative

On May 7^th, 2018, the 3^rd EbA Knowledge Day, organized by GIZ and IUCN under the Friends of EbA (FEBA) network in the framework of UNFCCC SBSTA 48, took place in the GIZ headquarter in Bonn. Approximately 60 persons participated, including UN negotiators, policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and donors working on issues relevant to climate change adaptation, ecosystem management and human resilience.

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Blue Planning in Practice in the Mekong Delta

Written by Silke Bommersheim, ICMP (GIZ Vietnam) and Carolin Hoffmann, Blue Solutions

A training on “Blue Planning in Practice” took place in the Mekong Delta from April 11-13, 2018. More than 20 representatives from all 7 coastal provinces of the Mekong Delta as well as representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) and related institutes strengthened their skill set on coastal and marine spatial planning for practitioners. The 3-day training course started with a high-level event on April 10 and took participants to the fictitious coastal country “Bakul”.

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2nd Global Dialogue of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fishery Bodies

2nd Global Dialogue of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative

From 10-13 April 2018, the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) of the Secretariat of the CBD organized the 2nd Meeting of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) Global Dialogue with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fishery Bodies on Accelerating Progress Towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Sustainable Development Goals in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

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Handing over the “Blue Training Courses”: A Workshop Event

Written by Tabitha Stimpfle, Blue Solutions Initiative

After five eventful years, the Blue Solutions project is in its final year of implementa-tion and will come to an end in late 2018. To ensure the long-term availability of our Blue Solutions training courses, we are planning a workshop on “The Art of convening Blue Training Courses”.

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ABALOBI: Demonstrating and exploring ICT solutions for small-scale fisheries in Uganda

Written by Volker Koch, Blue Solutions Initiative

From South Africa to Uganda: ABALOBI, a South African app suite for small-scale fishers’ business management, is being introduced to stakeholders in the Nile perch fishery at Lake Victoria to explore Innovative Communication Technologies (ICT) for fisheries solutions during a workshop.

The Blue Solutions Fair: upscaling success stories across Asia and the Pacific

Elena Rabbow and Janina Korting, Blue Solutions Initiative

Almost 40 participants from 12 different countries within the Asia-Pacific Region gathered in Pattaya, Thailand, where the Blue Solutions Fair took place from 13^th to 16^th of March. The mission of this 4-day event: to explore sustainable ways to address climate change for resilient coastal communities & healthy marine ecosystems. How? By creating a platform for personal exchange and mutual support to share innovative ideas and positive experiences. The participants of the Blue Solutions Fair were members of (international) non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions on national and local level and private companies. All of them shared the willingness to learn from others and the common goal to think and work solution-oriented. The best conditions for a successful Blue Solutions Fair!

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Blue Planning in Practice course applied in Europe: MSP for the Mediterranean Sea

Blue Planning in Practice course applied in Europe: Maritime Spatial Planning for the Mediterranean Sea

Written by Susanne Altvater, s.Pro

This article has been contributed by Susanne Altvater from S.Pro. She participated in our Blue Solutions training of trainers in Bali last year and gives insights on how she integrates the Blue Planning in Practice training into her work on Marine Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea basin:

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Marine Spatial Planning in Bakul – the Latin American way

Carolin Hoffmann, Blue Solutions Initiative

The fictitious country Bakul is the venue and place of learning in our Marine Spatial Planning training courses. Recently, Bakul was visited by another outstanding group of participants with lots of passion for the marine space. Here is what happened:

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