Biophysical environment
Tanzania has over 800 km of coastline, characterised by a mixture of beautiful sandy beaches, rocky outcrops, extensive coral reefs, and dense mangrove stands, especially around river deltas. Among the more famous of these natural resources are the beaches of Bagamoyo, the Jozani Forest Reserve, the coral reefs of Mafia, Zanzibar and Pemba, and the Amboni Caves. These coastal ecosystems support a wide variety of marine life.
The Third 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 (Nairobi Convention) was held at the Rovuma Carlton Hotel, Maputo, Mozambique, from 5 to 7 December 2001. The Meeting was convened by the Secretariat of the Nairobi Convention and hosted by the Government of Mozambique.
The United Nations Agenda 2030 further enshrines the central role of the ocean for sustainable development through Goal 14 (SDG14), to "conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources ", to lift millions of people out of poverty. The 2017 United Nations Oceans Conference provided a platform to focus countries' and other stakeholders' attention on commitments to achieving SDG14 at national and regional levels.
The Nairobi Convention Secretariat through the Project on the ‘Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the protection of the Western Indian Ocean from landbased sources and activities’ (WIOSAP) in partnership with the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) held the 2018 Science to Policy Forum for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region in Durban S. Africa from the 9th to the 11th of July 2018.
Seamounts are active or extinct volcanoes located on mid-oceanic rifts or intra-plate hot spots. Because of their magmatic origin, seamounts contain mineral resources. A crust of ferromanganese oxide enriched with cobalt, copper, manganese and sulphur has accumulated around the oldest reliefs. These reserves could exceed the quantities currently present on the continents, but their extraction cost remains prohibitive to be profitable.
