The Blue Action Accelerator - a funding program for Blue Action Lab (BAL), a Grand Bahama-based organization developing solutions for coastal communities and marine ecosystems to combat and adapt to climate change - now has a $10 million fund set up by Grand Bahamian Rupert Hayward that will help to support the development of technology that can improve ocean health and marine life, a Forbes article explains.

Hayward said in the article that Blue Action Accelerator wants to invest in technology that will help The Bahamas and

Miami-Dade County in Florida, given their commitment to taking meaningful action on climate change.

"We want to invest in technologies that will help these jurisdictions, and others like them, fulfill their aims, creating local solutions that also have global applications," says Hayward.

According to the article, the accelerator will help to overcome some of the barriers blocking the scaling of tech, improve government relations, and provide "access to living laboratories where tech can be tested and validated as well as funding and operational expertise".

Director of Blue Action Accelerator George Northcott said in the Forbes article that entrepreneurs have the ability to create solutions for the climate crisis the world is facing. He said those entrepreneurs must have access to policy-makers and government departments in order to implement their solutions.

"Climate change is inducing major changes in the physics and chemistry of the global ocean, and this will see a rapid decline in ocean health and serious risks to the billion people who live and work in low-lying coastal communities," said Northcott.

BAL has teamed up with the University of The Bahamas (UB) to help develop the "abundance of cutting-edge career opportunities" that are available in countries most vulnerable to climate change. The accelerator was developed to unlock new career opportunities, while also building the resilience that could protect The Bahamas from the devastating effects of climate change.

According to BAL, the partnership would "empower and equip young Bahamians with the skills needed to thrive in the emerging green and blue economies, while at the same time helping to secure a bright future for the country, both environmentally and economically".

Hayward said in a statement in 2022 that building resilience to climate change is one of the most challenging obstacles this country currently faces.

"The climate crisis is already hitting small island nations first and hardest, as we recognize only too well on this third anniversary of the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian," said Hayward.

"At the same time, an abundance of cutting-edge career opportunities aimed at helping coastal communities defend against climate threats are just waiting to be claimed.

"This partnership will allow Bahamians to take full advantage of a virtually untapped reservoir of employment possibilities. We want to create a whole new cadre of skilled local professionals and place them at the forefront of an emerging new sector that is likely to become one of the most important economic engines of the global economy in coming decades. This will not just accelerate the climate solutions that The Bahamas needs most, it will also establish the country as global leader in this sphere."

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