The Eleventh Conference of Parties to the Nairobi Convention (COP 11)

The Conference of Parties (COP) of the Nairobi Convention for the protection, management and development of the coastal and marine environment of the Western Indian Ocean is the highest decision-making organ of the Convention where regional conservation measures, enabling policies, management options, strategies and sustainable development pathways are agreed upon for the continued implementation of the Convention and its Protocols.

The function of the ordinary meetings of the Contracting Parties is to keep under review the implementation of this Convention and its protocols and, in particular:

The Government of Madagascar will host the 11^th COP of the Nairobi Convention as the current Chair of the Bureau to take stock of progress made since the 10^th COP which was held virtually in November 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. A lot has been achieved during the intersessional period focusing on different complementary themes addressing the triple planetary crises of biodiversity loss, pollution and waste, and climate change. The ongoing amendments to the ‘Biodiversity’ Protocol; development of a Regional Ocean Governance Strategy; a regional information management strategy;  completion of a toolkit for Green Port Development for Blue Economy, *progressive development of an ecosystem indicator monitoring framework, strengthened strategic partnerships; and investments in regional capacity building such as marine spatial planning and, marine protected areas, information management, and many others in different domains relevant to the broad mandate of the Convention.

The 11^th COP is being held against a backdrop of major global policy developments including the adoption of the High Seas Treaty, Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, the Decade of Ocean Science and the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration among others. A new regional integrated programme and nested to it, a new Work Programme has been developed, to build on the current (2022-2024) Work Programme and also ensure linkages to these emerging global policy developments.