Report of the fifth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region (COP5)

The fifth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention (COP5) was held in Johannesburg from 5 to 8 November 2007. The meeting was convened by the secretariat of the Nairobi Convention at the kind invitation of the Government of South Africa

The meeting was organized into several parts:

(a) Stakeholders workshop of non-governmental organizations and other partners;

(b) Experts meeting, held in parallel with the experts meeting of the eighth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Abidjan Convention, followed by a joint experts meeting of the fifth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention and the eighth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Abidjan Convention;

(c) Meeting of the Bureau of the Nairobi Convention, followed by a joint meeting of the Bureaux of the fifth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention and the eighth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Abidjan Convention;

(d) Launch of the Consortium for Conservation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in Western Indian Ocean (WIO-C);

(e) Heads of delegation meeting; (f) Joint meeting of the heads of delegations of the Nairobi and Abidjan Conventions.

Several regional non-governmental organizations and partners of the Nairobi Convention were invited to participate in the stakeholders workshop. Presentations made by organizations at the workshop covered a variety of subjects, including their objectives and mandate, existing or planned activities, areas for cooperation and new partnerships. During the meeting of the Bureau of the Nairobi Convention, the Bureau received and discussed the agenda of the heads of delegation meeting. The heads of delegation were to discuss the report by the Executive Director of UNEP and the work programme, recommendations and decisions of the stakeholders workshop and experts meeting. The present report summarizes the discussions of and decisions taken by the Contracting Parties at their fifth meeting.