CARICOM and the blue economy – Multiple understandings and their implications for global engagement

Abstract

The blue economy as a development paradigm has gained traction and favour in small island developing States (SIDS) including those of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The member States of CARICOM lie in close proximity to each other, exhibit high dependency on a shared space and resources and seek to establish a mutually beneficial interaction through an already institutionalized regional integration movement. Within CARICOM however, there is the problematic existence of different understandings of what the blue economy represents. This is illustrated through the use of case studies of three CARICOM countries, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Grenada. Competing interpretations of the blue economy complicate global engagement and lead to a re-emergence of issues which the Caribbean Community have never fully confronted and resolved. It is found that CARICOM needs to facilitate discussion, understanding and compromise among its members to arrive at an agreed policy and strategy that would effectively co-ordinate and operationalize blue economy development in the region. Such an understanding would enable CARICOM to optimise the collective economic, social and environmental benefits of the blue economy and allow the regional grouping to be an influential actor in all aspects of blue economy discourse on the global stage.