Towards a Blue Recovery in Samoa
Appraisal Report
The re-opening of Samoa’s borders in late-2022 kickstarted the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This offers an opportunity to rebuild sustainably its tourism, maritime transport, and fisheries sectors. Samoa’s ocean resources can also augment its resilience to future shocks such as climate change. Through an analysis of Samoa’s economic trends and environmental pressures, institutional set-up and policy tools, as well as financing landscape, this report identifies opportunities and challenges for Samoa’s ocean economy to drive sustainable and resilient development. The Samoa Ocean Strategy offers a blueprint for such a pursuit, but there remain gaps and impediments. To address them, the report provides several cross-cutting and sector-specific policy recommendations to accelerate Samoa’s transition to a sustainable ocean economy.
Executive summary
Samoa, a small island developing state, has an economy closely tied to the Pacific Ocean. The pursuit of a sustainable ocean future is central to Samoa’s development vision. This is reflected in the country’s medium and long-term national development strategies, which recognise the potential of several ocean-based industries for economic growth. The government understands that harnessing ocean resources is vital for sustainable economic development and improving the livelihoods of its people. It also acknowledges that the ocean represents a source of cultural identity and spiritual connection for many Samoans and their communities.
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