ADB to Mobilize Up to $6B for Southeast Asia's Blue Economy

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will mobilize up to $6 billion through 2030 to support fisheries, coastal infrastructure, and other blue economy investments in Southeast Asia. ADB President Masato Kanda announced the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Blue Economy Initiative at the 58th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Metro Manila on Saturday. “The ocean is not just an environmental priority; it is the economic foundation of Southeast Asia,” Mr. Kanda said. “When marine ecosystems degrade, the damage reaches the fishing net, the family table, and the flooded doorstep. We will put up to $6 billion behind the work of restoring fisheries, building resilient coastal infrastructure, and stopping waste before it reaches the water,” he added. Southeast Asia accounts for a fifth of the world’s fisheries and agricultural output, but ecosystem degradation, plastic waste and fishing pressure have been eroding the region’s natural capital, ADB said. “Modeled estimates put expected coastal flood damage across the region at about $11.5 billion a year,” it added. The ADB has yet to disclose how the $6 billion will be distributed among ASEAN member economies. Meanwhile, the bank is also proposing $150,000 in technical assistance for the Philippines to strengthen nutrition and climate resilience in the country’s food systems. The Philippines will receive the largest allocation among seven participating economies under the $800,000 regional program. Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Vietnam were each allotted $125,000, while Bangladesh and Nepal will receive $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. The technical assistance will support the integration of nutrition into ADB country programs, policy discussions and project preparation, as well as the design of nutrition-sensitive food system investments. It will initially cover selected ongoing and pipeline projects and contribute to the ADB’s $40-billion target for agrifood system transformation investments by 2030. — Justine Irish D. Tabile