The Northern Mozambique Channel (NMC) is one of the world’s richest regions in biodiversity, hosting an array of critical habitats and breeding and foraging grounds for marine and migratory species. Yet the natural treasures of the NMC are under siege from urban development, gas and oil extraction, population growth, and climate change. Such new uses of the NMC must be properly and sustainably managed if the NMC’s rich resources—and the future prosperity they can provide—are to be preserved.

The NoCaMo project, funded by the Fonds Français pour L’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), aims to ensure that the high biodiversity value of the Northern Mozambique Channel’s (NMC) coral reefs, seagrass, and mangrove ecosystems are maintained by 2025. Four organizations—the Nairobi Convention, World Conservation Society, Cordio, and World Wildlife Fund-Madagasar are responsibly for achieving the project’s outcomes.

The Northern  Mozambique  Channel’s critical ecosystems are on a decline from combined impacts of local and global threats. There are also growing  pressures  from  coastal  infrastructure  development,  extractive  industries  (in  particular recently  discovered natural  gas  and  oil),  population  growth  and  climate  change.

The  project  will  address  opportunities  for development  that can maximize sustainable  development  in  the  NMC. This will be done by ensuring preservation of marine ecosystems as a foundation blue growth.

The project uses the holistic approach for  Integrated  Ocean  Management  and  will  assist  the  countries  in  achieving  the  Sustainable  Development  Goals,  in particular Goal 14 on Oceans.