SAPPHIRE Progress

Find a non-exhaustive list of SAPPHIRE accomplishments so far below.

Scoping Meetings and National Inception Workshops: SAPPHIRE has held national level inception and scoping meetings in all nine participating countries to introduce the project, identify country priorities and build partnerships. Accordingly, countries have established National Intersectoral Coordination Committees (NICC), whose role is to coordinate the implementation of planned activities at the national level and conducted consultative meetings on national policies and programmes that support the implementation of the project and Strategic Action Programme (SAP). 

Project Steering Committee (PSC): The SAPPHIRE project held its fourth Project Steering Committee meeting on 1 March 2022. The meeting approved progress reports, proposals and concepts for demonstration projects, guidelines and toolkits, and annual workplans and budgets. A review of mid-term reports was also carried out with project performance, lessons learnt and key recommendations discussed.   

Partnership Building for Oceanographic Data and Research Management in the WIO region: The SAPPHIRE project has held five partnership meetings on oceanographic data and scientific research. Scientists, policy makers, and partners have discussed the status of national data centers; identified priorities of countries in using, managing and owning data findings; and agreed on mechanisms and partnerships to improve data collection, sharing, and archiving. Accordingly, a new regional network of data managers from each country was established to coordinate such efforts, while an assessment report was prepared on the status of oceanographic data and research management in the WIO.  

 SAPPHIRE is supporting ongoing research projects with the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and the Institute of Marine Sciences, which  support data collection and research on the  North Kenya Banks and the Pemba channel of Tanzania, respectively. 

In Tanzania, the data collected will be used to develop publications and summaries for a policy brief on mainstreaming oceanographic data in management of coastal and marine ecosystems and other subjects, while in Kenya, the data collected will inform ocean policy task forces, water management authorities and other national/ environmental and marine policy bodies. The SAPPHIRE Project is in discussions with the SOLSTICE-WIO Project to work towards joint outputs for amplified impact. 

Support for a Coordinated Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Management a South Africa Approach in South Africa is a project aiming to drive the development of three integrated Oceans and Coasts site plans as demonstration projects to contribute to the larger implementation of South Africa’s Marine Spatial Planning Framework through three demonstration projects in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, King Cetshwayo District Municipality and Umkhyakude District Municipality in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. The project’s launch meeting was held in July 2022.  

SAPPHIRE has supported the Nairobi Convention’s convening of science to policy forums in the region, in recognition of the need for science-based policy formulation, decision-making and adaptive management.

In March 2021, the SAPPHIRE project, together with other Nairobi Convention Secretariat projects and WIOMSA, convened the Regional Science to Policy Dialogue from 23 – 25 March 2021.  The theme was Transitioning to a Sustainable Western Indian Ocean Blue Economy: Addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities. A total of 33 scientific papers were presented with policy and technical recommendations- read the meeting report. These will be compiled into the first of a series of publications on science-to-policy in the WIO. 

Updating the Marine Ecosystem Diagnostic Analyses (MEDAs): The SAPPHIRE project is supporting countries to update their national Marine Ecosystem Diagnostic Analyses (MEDAs), prepared during the predecessor project of SAPPHIRE (ASCLME) in 2012. The MEDAs gather comprehensive information on the marine environment, socioeconomics, legislation, and ecological threats facing each country. The MEDA parameters are available here. They will serve as a baseline to prepare National Action Plans and develop or update national policies, legislations, strategies and programmes that contribute to the sustainable management of marine resources and ocean governance. Moreover, the updated MEDAs will be fed into an updated “Ridge to Reef” Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) for the region, i.e. an assessment of both the land-based sources of pollution on the Western Indian Ocean and its Large Marine Ecosystems, and the subsequent development of a single combined SAP for the WIO region. 

The SAPPHIRE Project Management Unit (PMU) is working with the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) to bring regional experts together, under the Nairobi Convention’s Forum for Academic and Research Institutions (FARI) for the review of National MEDAs. Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar (French), Mauritius, Seychelles, and South Africa have already submitted their first drafts for review, while Tanzania has reported  progress. 

Developing a Regional Ocean Governance Strategy: Based on a request made at a meeting organized by SAPPHIRE during the WIOMSA’s 11th Scientific Symposium on ocean governance, a WIO regional ocean governance workshop was organized from 04 – 05 September 2019 in Seychelles. 

An assessment of the state of ocean governance in the WIO region was conducted, presented and widely discussed. The background document provided a comprehensive update and information that supports the development of ocean governance strategy for the region. A draft WIO regional ocean governance strategy initiation document was presented to the participants and a thorough discussion and dialogue conducted that provided a roadmap for the development of the strategy with the leadership of AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs).  Further engagement of the RECS and countries of the region will continue in 2021 to put together the Ocean Governance Strategy by 2022. 

In addition, a series of workshops planned by the SAPPHIRE PMU and partners- particularly the Western Indian Ocean Governance Initiative (WIOGI) Project- aimed at furthering the development  of a multi-stakeholder initiative will be an important contributor to the development of a WIO region Ocean Governance Strategy, and in particular ensure that the private sector plays an central role in strategy development.

Developments on Marine Spatial Planning (MSP): several workshops have been held on MSP, including one focusing on introducing MSP to Somali government representatives. The workshops provided a platform to examine MSP practices and tailor the implementation of MSP to their own maritime domains.  

Nelson Mandela University led the development of an MSP strategy for the region, working with a Regional MSP Technical Working Group (TWG). This strategy, which will be used as a guideline for both regional and national MSP initiatives, is currently being formatted ahead of publication in early 2022. 

SAPPHIRE also contributed to the launch of the WIO Symphony Tool with SwAM. WIO Symphony is a web-based tool  that supports marine spatial planning in the Western Indian Ocean by assessing environmental impact from human activities. Find out more about the tool and use it here. 

Developing Ecosystem Monitoring Guidelines for WIO LMEs: In collaboration with other Nairobi Convention Secretariat projects, WIOMSA and Rhodes University of South Africa, SAPPHIRE assisted the creation of a regional ecosystem monitoring framework for the WIO. The framework identifies potential ecosystem monitoring indicators and monitoring sites and provide options for a potential framework/programme based on an analysis of current practices, frameworks, and national and regional capacity. The framework is currently being formatted and will be released in early 2022. 

Strengthening Preparedness and Response to Marine Oil Spills in the WIO: under the SAPPHIRE project, the Nairobi Convention and the International Maritime Organization in partnership with the Indian Ocean Commission held a regional workshop on cooperation and response to marine pollution incidents in March 2020. As a result of the workshop, the Nairobi Convention Secretariat was tasked with coordinating the implementation of the agreement on a Regional Contingency Plan for Preparedness for and Response to Major Marine Pollution Incidents in the Western Indian Ocean (the Regional Agreement). The participating countries recommended the establishment of a steering committee/regional working group for the agreement, to be tasked with overseeing the regional implementation plan.

Read more about the workshop’s outcomes here.  

The SAPPHIRE project developed a contact database for oil spill preparedness experts in the Nairobi Convention’s Clearing House Mechanism. In addition, plans are in place to support an assessment of the current status of national contingency plans and the updating and finalisation of the regional Agreement. 

Empowering Women in the WIO: The project organized three training workshops on leadership renewal for women senior officials and policy makers in ocean governance and marine policy in late 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 in order to enhance the participation and contribution of women in policy, legislation, strategy and programmes formulation as well as execution for sustainable management of resources and  improved ocean governance in the WIO region. The trainings offered a platform to motivate and inspire the participants – offering an environment in which they could reflect on and share successes, failures, and ideas on how to seize future opportunities. The participants have created a WIO Regional Women Leaders’ Network to continue learning from and supporting each other in leadership and in their contributions to sustainable development and ocean governance in the region.

Learn more here. 

Ocean Acidification: towards a Regional Response: The project, in collaboration with the IUCN and WIOMSA, held a workshop on ocean acidification in October 2019. The main outcomes of the workshop were a) a stock taking of current regional knowledge and actions on ocean acidification and b) the development of a draft regional action plan detailing how the region will respond to this challenge in coordination with both the SAPPHIRE, EU-Multilateral Agreements,  and WIOSAP projects. 

Learn more here. 

The project also supported countries to attend the International Ocean Institute Ocean Governance training with a focus on the WIO to be held from August 30 – September 24 2021. Trainees were drawn from Government Institutions, non-governmental institutions, RECs and Commissions, and it is anticipated that they will form part of the Core Team responsible for the development of the Regional Ocean Governance Strategy. Read more here.

For other reports and promotional materials related to SAPPHIRE, click here.