Sustainability at scale. Connecting 300,000 small-scale fishers in Latin America and the Caribbean for the mobilization of knowledge, solutions, and capital opportunities

Speaker: Dra. Espinosa Romero
Directora General, COBI Mexico

We need to move beyond demonstration models in coastal communities to scalable solutions that create resilience and address marine conservation and sustainable fisheries challenges at scale. Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI) has created Innovación Azul, a digital infrastructure initiative created to connect 300,000 small scale fishers to mobilize knowledge, innovations, and capital opportunities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. This initiative was accelerated due to the pandemic, as small-scale fishers were seeking ways to be connected to have access to information on the pandemic as well as on sanitary and recovery measures. As the world transitions to a sharing economy powered by digital infrastructure, ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries must do the same and innovate in this arena. The next generations of fishers are key actors in this digital transition. In this seminar we will present our experience and lessons learned in the last two years with Innovación Azul, and our plans to move forward.