Resources
The Regional State of Coast Report for the western Indian Ocean (WIO) is the first comprehensive regional synthesis to provide insights into the enormous economic potential around the WIO, the consequential demand for marine ecosystem goods and services to match the increasing human population, the pace and scale of environmental changes taking place in the region and the opportunities to avoid serious degradation in one of the world’s unique and highly biodiverse oceans.
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region spans across a large latitudinal range, from the Somalia region, influenced by the strong monsoon regime of the northern Indian Ocean,to the southern temperate regime of the tip of
South Africa, where the Agulhas current diverges from the northward moving Atlantic Benguela current.
Aim of this report is to:
- Provide an objective and scientific basis for listing birds in the Protocol Concerning Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora in the East Africa Region
- Provide information on the status of birds and the key habitats in the region
- Use information on birds to extrapolate the status of the wider ecosystems in the WIO region
Coastal communities in Kenya have adopted the use of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) to conserve fisheries and marine resources and as a way of securing alternative livelihood activities. However, these LMMAs have been established in a somewhat ad hoc manner due to a lack of guidelines for their development and implementation. In this review we sought to determine if there are generic approaches and methods that LMMAs in Kenya have adopted that can be used for developing national guidelines. We also examined challenges and lessons learnt from the various LMMAs on the Kenyan coast.
The Coastal Governance Index is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, commissioned by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and California Environmental Associates. Hilary Steiner and Jimena Serrano were the project managers. The quantitative index underlying this report measures the extent of government regulation and management across 20 key ocean economies to assess the state of play in the environment for effective coastal governance.
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region is recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot and is one of the least ecologically disturbed areas of the world. The high biodiversity in the WIO and its broad array of habitats, both in the coastal and marine environment, are however under increasing pressure from burgeoning coastal populations.
Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations.
Over the past 50 years (1963-2013) Africa focused her collective on the decolonization, the struggle against apartheid and attainment of political independence for the continent.
This month, the NAPA began our saga on the governance of protected areas in Africa. This issue quickly draws the overall context and future editions will be dedicated to the specific aspects of the different governance models namely: the private sector, and then governance by both the State and communities.
Fifty years after the first thirty-three (33) independent African states gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to form the Organization of African Union, now the African Union, the continent is looking ahead towards the next fifty years.
