This archive report was first published on 28 September 2019.
On September 28, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke at a meeting of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) during the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
He highlighted the need for countries to factor the blue economy into their development planning due to the shrinking land-based resources that won't be adequate to sustain a rising world population in the long run.
“From the very onset, there was a very clear recognition for some of us that resources that were going to be available especially in this era of climatic change from land-based resources, we were slowly and slowly depleting through increase in population growth, through desertification and so many other issues,” he said.
President Kenyatta emphasized that Kenya is keen on developing its blue economy resources because of the immense potential the sector holds for wealth and employment creation.
He noted that the blue economy has the potential to benefit world economies despite the challenges it faces, such as climate change, and called for more private sector participation.
“As much as we are under threat, there exists, and it is becoming clear, a huge opportunity that can benefit each and everyone of us. It is about time we started not just looking at the issue of climate change, of our vulnerabilities as a threat and started actually looking at opportunities that exist therein,” the President concluded.
