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Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey speaking yesterday.

Untapped potential

The potential is there for Barbados to become the Caribbean region’s first diversified blue and green hydrocarbon producer.

 

Caribbean economist, Marla Dukharan, made the suggestion yesterday during a panel discussion held as part of the UNDP High Level Political Forum side event, entitled “Unleashing the Potential of the Blue Economy”. Her comments came as she emphasised the need for regional countries to embrace economic diversification, contending that it is a risk management approach that the region must adopt if our countries are to survive.

 

Dukharan lamented that while the region has been discussing diversification for some time, it remains elusive because our leadership do not seem to fully understand why diversification is important. As such, she said our countries have remained largely dependent on tourism, which faces many ongoing threats.

 

“And they seem to chase with vigour, whatever works well at the time. I mean, first it was sugar and other agricultural products, and now it's largely tourism. But we've all heard the adage, don't put your eggs in one basket. So what economic diversification does is, it is simply a risk management tool that allows us to create more baskets in which to put our eggs, but it also allows us to produce more eggs,” she explained.

 

Her comments came as she suggested that the blue economy has an important role to play in the diversification thrust that is required. Emphasising that potential role, she used the example of Barbados, where the maritime area is 432 times more than its land mass. The economist said, therefore, that the ocean must be a major component of any smart diversification and development strategy, especially in Barbados, which is a water scarce country.

 

The economist added, “So the utilisation of its seawater via desalination to provide potable water for its residents, to me is an obvious opportunity, which of course, is already being tapped. But what about creating an industry around this desalinated water, where the output is exported, and where the energy inputs are derived from the renewable resources available right in the ocean, such as wind, ocean tide, and even solar? What if this desalinated water could be channelled intentionally to support the creation or expansion of other industries such as aquaponics, for example, and agriculture more broadly?”.

 

Apart from that, the economist suggested that the potential to address the high energy costs on the island, also lies in the blue economy. She made the point while noting that the country potentially has significant hydrocarbon deposits in its marine space. Dukharan said that while hydrocarbon producing countries in this region such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela, are the “most spectacular socioeconomic underperformers in our region”, Barbados is well poised to avoid the same fate, as it is already one of region’s strongest countries institutionally.

 

“...If Barbados is able to prepare itself from an institutional standpoint, especially its environmental laws and regulations, and its fiscal frameworks; is able to establish a sovereign wealth fund upfront; is able to learn from the mistakes of Trinidad and Tobago, for example, and mitigate the risks of repeating them; and is able to tap it's more experienced friends who got it right, like the Canadians and the Norwegians, for example, and ask them to assist with negotiations with the oil companies, then I think Barbados could be, potentially, the region's first diversified blue and green hydrocarbon producer - perhaps even in the world,” she said.

 

The economist said that while traditionally oil and water do not mix, she believes that if Barbados can mitigate the potential risks and challenges, it can successfully use its maritime resources to become more diversified and fully energy independent in the medium term, based on renewable resources, and hydrocarbons, which would be all sourced from the ocean. (JRT)

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