Forum of Academic and Research Institutions in the Western Indian Ocean Region (FARI)

FARI was established under the Fourth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Nairobi Convention Decision CP 4/ parts 3 and 4 which directed the Secretariat of the Nairobi Convention, in collaboration with other organizations, to facilitate the establishment of the network of academic and research institutions in the region. Further COP Decisions emphasized on the importance of FARI: Decision CP 7/17 of the seventh Conference of Parties (COP) to the Nairobi Convention which requested the secretariat to hold, and encourage partners to support, regular science to policy dialogues; The Eight Conference of Parties decision CP 8/12 also requested for the establishment of a dialogue platform to strengthen links between science, policy and action and mandated FARI to act as a technical and advisory body for the platform.

 

 

(i) Facilitating sharing of information between institutions and the Nairobi Convention and other regional processes, (ii) Offering scientific and technical advice on priorities for management, assessment and information dissemination to the regional initiatives,

 

(ii) Enhancing cooperation among universities and research institutions in the region,

 

(iii) Coordinating and facilitating identification of opportunities for collaborative research and

 

(iv) Serving as a pressure point for enforcing sustainable utilization of coastal and marine resources.

 

 

a) Information sharing between academic and research institutions and the Nairobi Convention;

 

b) Cooperation amongst universities and research institutions in the WIO region;

 

c) Cooperation and facilitating identification of opportunities for collaborative research in line with the Nairobi Convention Work Programme;

 

d) Providing critical linkage between research and decision making processes, and Providing quality assurance for the scientific research products by experts in the WIO region.

 

 

a) Providing quality assurance to elements of the Nairobi Convention Work programme and other regional stakeholders;

 

b) Contributing to the development of the Nairobi Convention Work Programme;

 

c) Identifying new and emergent fields of research, including the application of new technologies and innovative research approaches;

 

d) Providing expert technical support in the peer-review of projects, management decisions and policies;

 

e) Facilitating the sharing and exchange of information and scientists between partners and stakeholders;

 

f) Stimulating high quality science through developing and undertaking co-operative national, regional and international scientific research programmes;

 

g) Contributing to capacity and career building, inter alia through benchmarking of training opportunities;

 

h) Contributing to maintenance of ethical standards in research and the protection of intellectual property rights; and

 

i) Providing co-ordination, review, debate and assessment of the activities undertaken by, or under the auspices of the Nairobi Convention.

 

 

(i) Membership is open to all heads of academic and research institutions,

 

(ii) Representation for each institution shall be by the head of the academic or research institution. The institution should formally identify an alternate who may attend meetings in the absence of the member and such alternates should preferably be the deputy to the head,

 

(iii) FARI can seek advice from other individual experts as may be required in an ad-hoc manner,

 

(iv) Governmental institutions, NGOs and regional programmes with mandate to conduct research on marine and coastal issues are eligible for membership of the FARI,

 

(v) Membership is a formal process based on application and admission procedures,  

 

 

Under the ‘Addressing land-based activities in the Western Indian Ocean’ (WIO-LaB) project FARI:

 

FARI and the Proposed Science to Policy Platform

 

FARI shall be responsible for the science pillar in the Science to Policy Platform of the Nairobi Convention. The proposed Science to Policy Platform (SPP) will be “A multi-stakeholder platform comprising of representatives of formal and informal knowledge generating institutions, practitioners, policy makers, communities and the private sector within the WIO region which serves as an intermediary body to bridge the gaps between science, policy and practice”. The SPP is intended to “support the efforts of the Contracting Parties of the Nairobi Convention to integrate relevant scientific evidence and findings into their efforts to protect, manage and develop their coastal and marine environment in a sustainable manner”. It is also expected to “act as an intermediary or boundary agent between science and society and to facilitate and promote a better understanding of on-going and emerging regional environmental problems and of the strategies needed to address them”.

 

Thus, the FARI is expected to provide the necessary information for evidenced-based decision making and for the platform’s primary role of knowledge generation and dissemination as well as dialogue and consensus building under the WIOSAP Project.