Welcome, Nairobi Convention Member States, partners, and friends, to this installment of the Weekly News Round-up! Please keep reading to find out what’s new in efforts to protect, conserve and develop the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region.
We look forward to continuing our work with you to create a prosperous WIO region with healthy rivers, coasts, and oceans.
Upcoming Events:
The Nairobi Convention, in executing the SAPPHIRE project, is organizing a Regional Ocean Governance workshop for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region from 04 – 05 September 2019.
The Nairobi Convention, Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) and Birdlife International are organizing a meeting of the Consortium for the Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean region (WIO-C) to be held on 06 September 2019 in Seychelles.
The Nairobi Convention, in executing the WIOSAP project, is organizing a workshop for managers and policy-makers on Mainstreaming of Environmental Flows into Integrated Water Resources Management to be held on 18 – 20 September 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Indian Ocean Regional Ocean Acidification workshop: Call for applications
The Nairobi Convention, in collaboration with the IUCN-chaired Ocean Acidification International Reference User Group and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), is organizing the Western Indian Ocean Regional Ocean Acidification workshop to be held in Zanzibar, Tanzania on 28th and 29th October, 2019.
Regional scientists, representatives from sectors likely to be affected by Ocean Acidification, leaders in environmental protection and management agencies, and representatives from national and regional NGOs are invited to submit applications to attend.
If you would like to apply for this workshop, please submit your CV (2 pages maximum) and a short justification clearly indicating why you wish to attend and how ocean acidification is relevant to your work/research (maximum 1 page). These should be sent by 31st August 2019 via email to WIOMSA ([email protected]) and Marlyn Omondi ([email protected]), copied to Dan Laffoley ([email protected]) and James Oliver ([email protected]).
News:
Information Access and Knowledge Exchange in Co-Managed Coral Reef Fisheries
Effectively managing ecosystems is an information intensive endeavor. Yet social, cultural, and economic barriers can limit who can access information and how knowledge is exchanged. This research draws on social network theory to examine whether co-management institutions break down these traditional barriers, examining data from 616 Kenyan coral reef fishers operating in four communities with formal co-management institutions….…read more
High Aquaculture Growth Needed to Improve Food Security and Nutrition
Fish is a vital source of essential macro- and micronutrients that can play an important role in reducing the high prevalence of undernutrition in Kenya. Thanks to various public interventions, Kenya has had an impressive 20 percent annual growth in aquaculture production since the new millennium. Yet deliberate efforts must be made to create an enabling environment for both public and private investments in the industry in order to unleash Kenya’s full potential in aquaculture for improving the country’s food and nutrition status……read more
Recent Pace of Change in Human Impact on the World’s Ocean
A fundamental gap in understanding how humanity is affecting the oceans is our limited knowledge about the pace of change in cumulative impact on ocean ecosystems from expanding human activities – and the patterns, locations and drivers of most significant change. To help address this, this research combined high resolution, annual data on the intensity of 14 human stressors and their impact on 21 marine ecosystems over 11 years (2003–2013) to assess pace of change in cumulative impacts on global oceans, where and how much that pace differs across the ocean, and which stressors and their impacts contribute most to those changes.……read more
Keeping an Eye on the High Seas
Effective monitoring, control and surveillance is critical for the success of marine conservation and management measures. Whereas States have the exclusive right to manage the marine resources within their national jurisdiction, areas beyond national jurisdiction are subject to a complex patchwork of international rules and regulations……..read more
High Hopes for the High Seas: beyond the package deal towards an ambitious treaty
Cognisant of the growing threats to biodiversity in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, States at the United Nations are negotiating a treaty to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of this vast global commons. These negotiations provide a unique and timely opportunity to strengthen the management regime for the global ocean, building on the vision of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. A fair and equitable treaty could further support conservation and sustainable use by strengthening existing management frameworks and providing global oversight, developing capacity, and placing science at the heart of decision making……read more
WIOMSA News brief June/July 2019
This edition features articles from the 11th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium that recently took place in Mauritius as well as articles on Dr Jacqueline Uku´s N.K. Panikkar Memorial Lecture, MARG-I outcomes, meetings and workshops that have taken place in the region……..read more
The Seaweed Invasion
It started washing ashore in the Caribbean eight years ago, the smelly, yellow-brown seaweed known as Sargassum. Then, just as mysteriously, it disappeared.
Now the avalanche of algae is becoming an annual event – with increasingly dire consequences for the environment and the economy of the region….read more
Vacancy
Chief of Service, Programme Management
Deadline: 06 September 2019
The incumbent will be responsible for the activities of the Marine and Coastal Ecosystems Branch including the overall implementation of the approved UNEP ocean strategy, the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities; Small Island Developing States; UNEP Coral Reef activities; Regional Seas Programme and Marine and Coastal ecosystems work programme.
