PROBLUE: Healthy Ocean, Healthy Economies, Healthy Communities

Work Supported by PROBLUE

PROBLUE supports work in every World Bank region of the world. This includes cross-sectoral initiatives and global activities.

Now in its sixth year, PROBLUE has expanded its reach to over 100 economies, including 55 from low- and lower-middle-income countries, with a portfolio of $229 million. In FY25, every $1 invested in PROBLUE initiatives informed $82 of World Bank financing across 38 operations.

The map below provides a summary of PROBLUE activities, by country. For more detailed information on PROBLUE projects and results, please refer to the latest Annual Report.

Global

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
Reducing Risk in Aquaculture Investing: Disease Management	P171307	Global	1	To improve the quality and sustainability of WBG investments in the aquaculture sector by promoting and facilitating adoption of best disease-control and health-management practices.
Sustainable and Resilient Tourism on Small Islands and in Coastal Destinations	P174821	Global	Multi	To improve understanding of how small island developing states (SIDS) and small coastal nations can increase their tourism competitiveness in the wake of COVID-19 through more sustainable and resilient tourism practices.

Africa

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
Mozambique ProBlue Program (MozAzul)	P132123	National: Mozambique	Multi	To strengthen the knowledge base on sustainable blue economy development in Mozambique. Learn more
Advancing Transparency in the Fisheries Sector through FiTI	P155642	National and global: Seychelles	1	To improve transparency and multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable and equitable fisheries management in Seychelles and other countries by supporting the Government of Seychelles to host the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) International Secretariat.

East Asia and Pacific

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
Support Plastic Policies and Investments to Reduce Ocean Plastics in Vietnam	P167307	National: Vietnam	2	To support mapping of plastic waste and plastics’ value chains to identify and implement policies and public and private investments
Supporting sustainable fisheries development and resilient coastal economies in the Philippines	P171993	National: Philippines	1	To improve the knowledge base for the Philippines fisheries sector and for measures for improved coastal resilience, to inform the design of the planned Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resource Management (PFCRM) Project, and a potential Coastal Resilience Project.
Charting a coastal blue economy development path for Cambodia	P172461	National: Cambodia	Multi	To generate knowledge and data to inform policy and institutional development and identify investment opportunities to develop Cambodia's coastal blue economy in a sustainable and inclusive manner. Learn more

Europe and Central Asia

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
Pollution Prevention in the Black Sea	P173334	Regional: Europe and Central Asia	2	To improve national and regional knowledge for mitigating eutrophication, deoxygenation, invasive species, emerging pollutants, and litter, including plastic, in the Black Sea. This work complements WBG's engagements in other countries around the Black Sea and will contribute to increase regional coordination on marine pollution interventions.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Project Name

P No.

Country/Region

Pillar

Objective

Unleashing the Blue Economy of the Eastern Caribbean’ Project (UBEEC)

P171833

Regional:
The Caribbean

Multi

To support the OECS Commission and member states to identify policy gaps, organizational reforms, and capacity needs at national and regional levels within the OECS to improve competitiveness of the blue economy and strengthen the marine and coastal assets on which it depends. Learn more

Caribbean Regional Blue Port Connectivity Prefeasibility Study

P170860

Regional: Latin America and the Caribbean

To conduct analysis necessary to prepare a future regional investment operation, the Caribbean Regional Blue Port Connectivity Project, which would enhance port efficiency and resilience while reducing pollution, increasing energy efficiency and connectivity, and elevating compliance with MARPOL in selected Caribbean States.

Middle East and North Africa

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
A Rapid Fishery Performance Indicators Diagnostic of the Gaza Strip Fishery along the Mediterranean	P172349	National: West Bank and Gaza	1	To (i) undertake a rapid diagnostic of the status of Gaza fishery along the Mediterranean coast, and (ii) make relevant recommendations for further analysis/activities to enhance the sustainability of the fishery and Gaza fishers’ livelihoods
Cleaner Marine and Coastal Ecosystems in North Africa	P170596	Regional: North Africa	2	On the regional level to contribute to raise common approaches and expand the influence to other Maghreb countries. On the national level to inform national strategies and investments for cleaner, plastic free, marine and coastal areas in Morocco and Tunisia.

South Asia

Project Name	P No.	Country/Region	Pillar	Objective
Circular Economy and Marine Plastic	P168024	National: Bangladesh	2	To support the Government to better understand the status of marine debris, especially plastics, and develop a roadmap/action plan to reduce marine plastics
Unlocking India's Blue Economy Potential	P097985	National: India	4	To identify a BE governance and institutional model applicable to India in order to enable the preparation of the proposed India: Enhancing Coastal and Ocean Resource Efficiency Project (ENCORE)