Namibia needs to embrace technology that can predict and detect climate and environmental changes, track species movements, and predict the impacts of human activity on marine life.
The University of Namibia's Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Development, Professor Cristina Stefan, said such smart sensors will also help transform the way the marine ecosystem is managed.
Professor Stefan, who was speaking at the 9th Sam Nujoma Marine and Coastal Resource Research Centre conference, said the impact of drought on Namibia has been devastating this time around.
She pointed to the blue economy as a key to income and job creation, the elimination of poverty, and raising the population's general level of life satisfaction.
She thus urged young people to think beyond wanting to work in a government office and become problem solvers in the fisheries sector.
"We have quite a number of degraded ecosystems, and restoration and focussing on those would help to recover the biodiversity, not only improving the ecosystem but also, at the end of the day, supporting the local communities. Tourism is something that we know and understand, but the innovation in the tourism industry is to bring innovative ways in which we try to reduce or minimise the impact from an environmental point of view. I think it was the overfishing and the promotion of conservation of the coast ecosystem and sustainable tourism, which will provide solutions for the future."
She added that community-based management and indigenous knowledge should be fully explored to deepen modern understanding of these.
Recognising the need for significant financing to mobilise such research, she called on the government and the private sector to get involved in research, education, and the development of ecosystems.
She called on the government and private sector to be involved in research, education, and development of the ecosystem.
She encouraged lecturers to inspire students to do more research and come up with problem-solving ideas to solve problems in the community.