The reality of climate change and the attendant threats posed to humanity may not be overstated.
Evidence of the scourge of climate change manifests anywhere one looks, or from abounding impacts felt by all.
Evidently, no sector seems left unscathed, making climate change a hot topic crying out for apt interventions on the global market.
On 4th - 6th September 2023, Kenya hosted the Africa Climate Summit at KICC, Nairobi.
This summit, championed by H.E President William S. Ruto was aimed to serve as a platform to “inform, frame, and influence commitments, pledges, and outcomes, ultimately leading to the development of the Nairobi Declaration".
That the summit, being a resounding success is not in doubt.
Indeed, given that Africa and the rest of the World converged to deliberate on this crucial topic that is posing an existential threat to humanity is in itself telling.
Africa, in one unequivocal voice, and as never before, spoke directly to the Global North as the abusers, and herself as the victim bearing the brunt of the impact of climate action’s irresponsibility.
Accountability over either actions or inactions was therefore called for from those with the most culpability.
Reparations to mitigate and right the problem were equally tabled.
Most discussions to inform on climate change phenomenon are framed around the known environments of land and air spaces.
Little, or nothing on such agendas framed focuses on the maritime sector.
Yet this grey or dark ‘unknown’ domain is what is most abused and in need of more interventions, if not just to level up with the attention the land and air ecosystems enjoy.
The maritime domain represents that vast water ‘nothingness’ formed by oceans, seas, and inland waters enveloping the land mass.
It’s the largest pie of the world, accounting for roughly 71 per cent against the land mass at 29 per cent.
In terms of global trade, over 80% is done on water as compared to the rest conducted on both land and air. With respect to economic potentiality, the blue economy is described by the OECD as the “next great economic frontier as it holds potential for wealth and economic growth, employment and innovation.”
This is therefore the future, and as such, demands equal attention for fuller optimization.
Unfortunately, our waters (oceans, seas, lakes and rivers), unknown and ‘faceless’ as they are, are all threatened by unscrupulous or unsustainable extractive activities.
It’s a frontier very little is known, hence remains a vast ungoverned “no-man’s-land” where any form of criminality goes!
It’s - especially the deep seas - that cesspool where dumping of hazardous material happens.
The place where unsustainable fishing by commercial trawlers by rich nations and crooked sea poachers prey - leaving coral destruction and depletion of endangered species in their trail.
It is where nuclear testing routinely happens. Where oil spills by merchant ships and oil exploration takes place. And prospecting and mining of minerals goes on unabated.
This, in a nutshell, is an outlaw arena, with the destruction of the maritime ecosystem, yet holds the key to the future of humanity!
Therefore, with such an outlaw tag on our global waters, maritime security becomes the only imperative as a solution.
This should be achieved through a concerted global maritime law enforcement strategy of collaborative partnerships and synergies of coalitions of willing nations, regional arrangements of sister States, and interagency state fusions of maritime sector agencies.
No silo maritime law enforcement approach may suffice as an effective intervention.
Players in the maritime security provision are varied and differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
These constituent stakeholders, ranging from national coast guards, navies, sector players within the fisheries, transport, maritime regulators, environmental conservation, port authorities, marine scientists, and revenue collectors, amongst others all play a pivotal role and must be joined together at their hips to provide a wholesome maritime security posture.
Towards this end of maritime law enforcement, coast guards are therefore well placed to play a coordinating lead role.
Kenya joined the global proactive maritime law enforcement way back in 2018 through the establishment of the Kenya Coast Guard Service.
The Service, though relatively youthful, is primed to be a “premier” maritime law enforcement service provider, and with the onerous mandate of providing the security and safety over our national territorial waters.
This is generally achieved through enforcement of all maritime laws, protection of maritime resources, aiding in the sustainable utility of our maritime resources, providing safe passage of sea vessels within territorial waters, and tackling insidious maritime transnational threats such as gun running, trafficking in persons and narcotics among others.
With this mandate background in mind, KCGS is perhaps the best example of how state agencies can cooperate meaningfully through commingling of resources and collapsing of mandates, and hence approach critical national security sector threats as a unified vehicle.
Such apparent disparate comparative advantages pooled into a holistic purpose is what makes KCGS unique in posture, and a promising premier state security agency of now and the future.
KCGS looks outwardly too, and works with other stakeholders to protect our maritime resources jealously.
We achieve this by empowering the fisher communities living proximate to waters with critical knowledge of sustainable fishing methods, including self-policing on the right gears to use, and above all, their safety considerations while at sea or lake.
As a key pillar of our mandate, we also have structured relations with international development partners, through whom we access premium training options on current norms and trends on maritime law enforcement and safety, share benchmarks, and further perform joint exercises for improved skills.
Such in-kind support from strategic partners cannot be gainsaid, and remain part of our strength in serving and protecting.
As we continue to discharge our mandate wholeheartedly, and also enable the national blue economy aspiration to take off, as a Coast Guard, together with our cherished partners, we stand committed to making an invaluable contribution towards a mitigated climate change for a better world for all.
A concerted maritime security action plus similar corrective interventions can save the world from the scourge of climate change.
So far, KCGS has in partnership with fisher communities planted 20,000 mangrove trees (with a projection to hit a target of 1 million within the next 5 years), and also is routinely engaged in beach cleanup exercises.
Together, if we can fix the waters and their ecosystem, we can reverse the perils of climate change and save current and future generations.
Bruno Shioso is the Kenya Coast Guard Service Director-General.
