Blue Planet Fund A rapid review - November 2023

The Blue Planet Fund is jointly managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), with Defra the strategic lead and delivering the largest portion of the Fund. [...] Recognising the importance of oceans for sustainable development and the fact that this SDG is one of the most underfunded,16 the establishment of the Fund was part of the efforts by a range of multilateral and bilateral donors and foundations was to increase ODA in this area. [...] The Fund teams are trying to address this issue through increased consultations and the development of Blue Planet Fund country plans to support coherent delivery in the Fund’s priority countries – although these come after the design and approval of the vast majority of the Fund’s programmes. [...] This would be consistent with longstanding good practice in ODA delivery, but at the time had not featured in the approach to the delivery of the Fund.31 4.43 The Fund is in the process of establishing a Mozambique Blue Planet Fund country plan to show how the portfolio can support the government of Mozambique’s blue economy priorities. [...] 4.47 A concept note summarising the proposed programme and the results of the investment criteria screening is shared with the JMB for feedback, before advancing to the detailed design and preparation of the business case.