The potential, challenges and risks of developing the blue economy in Timor-Leste

Liga ba artigu ida ne'e iha Tetum

On 2 March 2023, the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry (MTCI), together with the development partner UNDP, organized a round-table discussion on entrepreneurship linked to the blue economy in Timor-Leste. For almost 20 years, the country's economy has depended on money from oil and gas, and Timor-Leste will face a fiscal cliff as a result of this dependency. Therefore, we must plan well to diversify the economy to create new sources of income to replace the dependence on oil and gas revenue.

In many coastal countries, the concept of a blue economy has become a focus of intervention by development partners, international agencies, and the government itself. "Blue economy" refers to using or taking advantage of marine resources, and at the same time ensuring the sustainability of the resources. La'o Hamutuk believes that it is important to provide an introduction to this idea, including its relevance for Timor-Leste, opportunities and risks, to help Timor-Leste decide on the fairest and most sustainable way to develop our blue economy.

Potential, Risks and Challenges

International agencies have identified activities that could be the base of a future blue economy. According to UNDP, fishing, maritime transport and tourism are activities that are already happening, but are not yet optimal. The blue economy brings opportunities to strengthen and diversify our economy, but we must be careful and take into account the possibilities and weaknesses in implementation, including all obstacles to ensuring environmental sustainability, and the empowerment of local communities.

In 2017 the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAP) and with support from development partners, developed the National Ocean Policy, but it has not yet been passed. Timor-Leste needs a legal framework to protect all of our resources in the sea and the Ocean, including communities that depend on the sea to sustain their lives. Recently, La'o Hamutuk observed that the implementation of new policies and initiatives in Timor-Leste will face major challenges due to lack of coordination of services; if efforts are made to develop the blue economy, but the Ocean Policy has not been implemented well, we will confront problems in the future. Therefore, a strong legal and policy regime must be established before the blue economy is developed. 

We should be careful to avoid high-risk activities that a blue economy could bring to Timor-Leste. For example, in India, the Government promotes deep seabed mining as an aspect of their plan to strengthen the blue economy. Therefore, we must be cautious about exploiting undersea minerals, an activity that could pose a great risk to the marine environment if it is done without thorough understanding of the risks and impacts. There is no evidence that Timor-Leste's maritime territory has the potential for such activities, but we can learn from India’s experience that developing a blue economy can also open the way to unsustainable activities, posing serious risks to the environment and to marine ecology.

In other places, observers have noted that the potential and efforts to promote the blue economy which prioritizes a "market solution" could reduce the role and rights of communities who have long used the sea for their lives (such as small-scale fishers). The UNDP study mentioned above also discussed the possibility of selling carbon credits from Timor-Leste’s sea. Such activities, when incorporating natural resources into the private market, must consider the perspectives of climate justice, community rights, and sustainability. Therefore, Timor-Leste needs to carefully evaluate any proposal for these activities. We should not simply believe and accept that the beautiful term "blue economy" automatically means that everything is good and positive, but we must be careful and learn from the experiences of other nations.

How can we avoid risk and use our potential effectively?

The development of a blue economy should be in line with principles of sustainability and blue justice. The sea is common property, in that everyone can access it freely, and it is different from dry land. The sea has a large potential and has a variety of resources and biodiversity that can be developed to be economically productive. It should be developed in the context of the nation in a way that respects cultural, social and inclusive economic aspects, including integrating community participation in maritime governance.

The concept of blue justice arose in response to the concept of the blue economy itself. We have observed that efforts to develop a blue economy often give priority to the private sector and large fishing companies, rather than prioritizing communities which have long used, managed and depended on coastal and maritime resources for their lives and livelihoods. In addressing the blue economy, a perspective of blue justice can help the Government and the community make wise, fair, and sustainable decisions.

Conclusion

For Timor-Leste to plan well to develop the blue economy, fairly and sustainably, we need deep understanding of the various proposals and interests, when performing these activities. We should not just believe that the pretty name "blue economy" means everything is good and positive, but we must learn from the experiences of other countries. In the future, Timor-Leste should have a national maritime legal and policy regime (Ocean Policy) to ensure, protect, maintain, and restore coastal and ocean resources to support a sustainable economy according to our people’s social and cultural values, in a fair and equitable way.

The State must strengthen its management of ongoing activities, such as the maritime transport system, fishing (which is not yet going well), in order to improve and strengthen communities that have already undertaken small activities, such as producing edible seaweed, harvesting fish, shellfish, crabs and so on, before the start of new activities called the Blue Economy.