We call it earth, but our planet is primarily composed of ocean
– UN Oceans Day
The theme for this year’s United Nations Oceans Day was “awaken new depths.” Oceans Day was first declared as 8 June, 1992 in Rio de Janeiro at the Global Forum, a parallel event at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which provided an opportunity for NGOs and civil society to express their views on environmental issues. At the official hybrid event, the message was clear: “The knowledge on the ocean’s dire state is clear. Still, were not listening. To motivate widespread momentum for the ocean, we need to ‘awaken new depths’.”
Blue ocean economy development
The African Union has identified blue ocean economy development as a priority goal towards achieving the aspiration on “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development” within the context of the Africa Union Agenda 2063.
“The African continent is endowed with massive aquatic and marine resources including oceans, seas, rivers and lakes with potential for blue economy growth,” says African Union Commissioner for Rural Development and Agriculture, H.E. Ambassador Yosefa Sacko. The continent has 38 coastal states and a number of island states such as Cape Verde, Sao Tomé and Principe, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and the Comoros. Among these island states are small island states (SIDS) that are vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events. Collectively African coastal and island states encompass vast ocean territories of an estimated 13 million km².
Says Ambassador Sacko: “These water bodies and wetlands are certainly of strategic importance to the continent and provide opportunities for fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, coastal tourisms, offshore oil and gas energy mobilisation and other blue economy related activities.”
The AU’s Blue Economy Strategy is an inclusive and sustainable blue economy that significantly contributes to Africa’s transformation and growth, and it is based on the following five themes:
Community engagement
A recent study published in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy on “The ocean as a source of renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa: sources, potential, sustainability and challenges” concluded that mini tidal power plants and salt gradient power are the ocean energy sources most suitable for coastal development.
The study recommends a gradual reduction in subsidies of fossil fuel-based energy sources in favour of support to renewable energy, building human resources and technical capacity, the establishment of smart partnerships and mobilisation of resources for an effective promotion of ocean renewable energy. It recommends further, that community engagement is needed to assure ownership and acceptance.
Milken-Motsepe Prize for Green Energy
Building more inclusive societies and empowering local communities is an important component that the judges look for in the Milken-Motsepe Prize for Green Energy. The $2 million innovation competition rewards entrepreneurs working to expand access to reliable, affordable and sustainable off-grid electricity in Africa.
“Our system has community at the core of it,” says Jonathan Wilson, Aftrak project lead, the winners of this year’s Milken-Motsepe Green Energy Prize of $1-million. He is also a lecturer in systems and mechanical engineering at Loughborough University.
Aftrak is a groundbreaking initiative that combines solar microgrids and tailored tractors to empower smallholder farmers across Africa. It aims to significantly increase crop yields and smallholder incomes while providing access to clean, green electricity in rural communities.
He explains: “It’s a system that essentially creates micro microgrids. So, these are microgrids that are a lot smaller than traditional microgrids. A traditional microgrid might have 80 to 100 kilowatts of panels, which would take up the size sort of half of football field. With those size systems, you’re connecting hundreds of homes, and in that environment, people can’t know each other, can’t understand that the impact they’re using in terms of their energy usage is going to affect their neighbours. Whereas our systems being a modular microgrid is designed to work with much smaller communities: homes from sort of six to 15.”
He continues: “In these scenarios, the community can know each other. So the community can collaborate, get involved in the installation in the management and the community can get involved in the upkeep, which means that we build this societal and communal feeling around the access to energy. And so the initial sites that we’re looking for have been very, very focused on finding good communities that will work together when implementing the Aftrak product. [Read and watch full interview here.]
Creating communities that function
“Interestingly, in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, the provision of basic services is not something that has a good track record,” is the sobering opinion of Randy Kabuya, engineer and co-founder of Omnivat, the runners-up in this year’s Milken-Motsepe Green Energy Prize.
The company won $250,000 for its containerised electricity generation and storage system, which provides clean water, clean energy, and wi-fi-enriched by virtual reality support for remote communities.
Kabuya explains their solution: “What we do is we anchor our energy services and systems and products to actual basic services. So, by that what we mean is we build up microgrids from primary service centres, such as a water treatment facility or a healthcare facility or a business entity needing power. What that has allowed us to do to create a more inclusive society is to anchor and strengthen these basic services, which we see will definitely assist societies in operating in a more inclusive manner for all of its residents.”
He adds: “The other thing that we’ve put ourselves in a very unique position in is the conversion of very present African resources, such as a lot of excess solar power that is not being used. And we allow the conversion to products and services that are much needed by communities and businesses. And for that we really see our solution making an impact in not just giving people electricity but creating societies that function and societies that can work towards their self-determination.” [Read full interview here.]
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