“The smell alone when you cross the bridge tells you something’s wrong,” says Renison Ruwa, deputy director of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. The bridge in question is Mtwapa bridge, which straddles Mtwapa Creek in Mombasa, Kenya. And the smell to which Ruwa is referring stems from this very creek, into which waste…
DetailsTowards a more sustainable fisheries sector in Comoros Located at the northern entrance to the Mozambique Channel, the Comoros archipelago has one of the most productive fishery industries in the Western Indian Ocean region. The Comorian fishery sector currently contributes 24 percent to the nation’s agricultural GDP and 7.5 percent to the national economy overall, according…
DetailsActivities on land place enormous stress on our oceans, putting our health, jobs, and ecosystems at risk. One of the ways through which the GEF-funded WIOSAP project strives to reduce land-based stresses is by improving the management of river flows. To this end, WIOSAP is funding several demonstration projects in the Western Indian Ocean region,…
DetailsSouth Africa is a maritime nation with jurisdiction over one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world: the mainland EEZ stretches 370km offshore and includes 1.072.716 km2 of ocean. The country has a 3113 km long coastline that extends from Ponta do Ouro on the Mozambican border to the Orange river on the…
DetailsCreating the conditions for sustainable seagrass restoration in Maputo and Inhambane bays “People can’t think of Inhaca without thinking about seagrass,” says Salamao Bandeira of Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University, knee-deep in the shallow waters on the seaward side of Maputo Bay, as he points at the shores of Inhaca Island. Nearby, residents are submerged waist-deep in the sea, taking advantage of the…
DetailsFor many locals and tourists, Praslin Island in Seychelles is synonymous with paradise. From the white sands of Anse Lazio, frequently voted as one of the top beaches in the world, to the endemic species of the jungle, to the colorful coral reefs in Curieuse Marine Park, Praslin is filled with both beauty and biodiversity.…
DetailsWorld Environment Day 2022 June 5 marks World Environment Day, celebrated globally since 1973 as a platform for raising environmental awareness and acting on urgent planetary issues. Sadly, the urgency to reverse damage done by humanity on nature was as urgent then as it is now, as humanity is now facing the ‘triple planetary crisis’;…
DetailsMauritius, once home to the dodo, rushes to save threatened seabirds on Ile aux Aigrettes Bird decoys on Ile aux Aigrettes. Credit: Mauritian Wildlife Foundation Ile aux Aigrettes, or Egret Island, is just one of the many small islands off the coast of Mauritius named after birds. There’s also Common Noddy Island, Shearwater Island, Lesser…
DetailsA Conversation with Peter Manyara, IUCN According to UNEP, thousands of pieces of marine plastics are estimated to be afloat on every square mile of the ocean. As an upcoming Nairobi Convention and WIOMSA report, Marine Plastic Litter in the Western Indian Ocean Region: A Synthesis Report states, the Western Indian Ocean is well-known for…
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