President Uhuru Kenyatta has said Kenya is prioritizing the implementation of sustainable blue economy programs because of the sector’s potential to accelerate the country’s development.

Speaking during a meeting of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) held on the sidelines of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York,HE said Kenya is keen on developing its blue economy resources because of the immense potential the sector holds for wealth and employment creation.

“From the very onset, there was a very clear recognition for some of us those 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.

The President further added that Kenya’s leading role in the push for sustainable development of the global blue economy is out of recognition that oceans are critical to the future of humanity.

“Our oceans are a critical part of the future of humanity and this is where we ended up saying that as we project ourselves into the future, this must be a critical priority for every single global citizen. If we don’t do this we will not just lose resource but more importantly we will lose life and we will lose generations to come.” the Head of State said.

Speaking about the sustainable blue economy conference co-hosted by Kenya, Canada and Japan in Nairobi last year, the President Kenyatta said a sustainable blue economy is possible with the involvement of all stakeholders.

“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.’’

Source: Presidential Press Service Kenya