New series: Improving Impact of MPAs in the WIO Region starts 24 June

Are you working at a ministry or agency with focus on marine protection or sustainable use of marine resources? Welcome to a series of seminars where the key factors to a successful MPA network will be discussed.

Humans need nature to survive. Strong, resilient ecosystems is a must for social and economic development.

MPAs, marine protected areas, are key to a healthy marine environment, which is the basis for food security and other human well-being aspects, as well as a thriving blue economy. However, we are facing many challenges in adaptive management of these across the WIO region, thus jeopardizing successful MPAs.

Benefits and Challenges of regional MPA networks

The first seminar on 24 June will focus on:

  • Understanding of adaptive management
  • The challenges identified by practitioners in the region from WIOPAN
  • Inspiration from Sweden on how a common approach and language can strengthen collaboration in your region, and help countries meet their commitments.

The first seminar welcomes high-level decision makers and personnel at governmental agencies working with the development of protection and use of marine ecosystems.

Two more seminars are planned in August and September and will focus on topics that address different aspects of adaptive management and present approaches to solve some of the key challenges that have been identified.

Those seminars will be followed by a training program working with local teams and areas of MPA managers.

Training program to support teams of managers in selected marine areas

The seminars are the start of a training program in practical methods for managing marine protected areas, MPAs. The training is combined with continuous follow-up and support.

The objective is to support four to five teams of educated managers at a national level in selected marine areas.

The training is provided by SwAM Ocean in close cooperation with WIOMSA, Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association. We are working with WIOMSA’s network of MPA practitioners in the region, WIOMPAN.

Supports ongoing work

The conservation work in SwAM Ocean aims to support ongoing initiatives contributing to the development of transparent and adaptive management systems for marine protected areas in countries in the Western Indian Ocean such as Tanzania, Mozambique, Somalia, Madagascar, Comoros, and others.

The Nairobi Convention in executing the WIOSAP and EU MEAs projects is convening the first seminar on Adaptive Management: Design and effective management of MPA networks, in collaboration with us and WIOMSA, the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association. The seminar training is organized to implement the MPA Outlook recommendations on capacity building and also as a curtain raiser to the launch of the Outlook planned for on the 16 July 2021.

This work is part of our development cooperation programme SwAM Ocean.

Published: 2021-06-16